West Chester Rustin’s mother-daughter Stackhouse duo relishing final season together

Lauren and Riley Stackhouse added the roles of coach and player to their mother-daughter relationship about seven years ago when Lauren became Riley’s travel basketball coach.

Then when Riley arrived at West Chester Bayard Rustin High School that role continued as her mom has been the girls’ basketball coach for five seasons.

However, their time together is quickly coming to an end. Riley is more than halfway through her senior season. Next year, she’ll play for another coach who’s not her mom for the first time at Widener.

“She’s a great coach and I love playing for her,” Riley said. “It sucks that it’s over soon but it was the best time.”

Lauren played high school ball at Upper Merion and extended her career to Delaware Valley University, where she became a career leader in rebounds as well as ranking sixth in scoring, second in steals, and third in assists.

Riley had plenty of basketball advice to lean on at an early age.

“Hustle,” Riley said of her mom’s lessons to her. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the biggest, smallest, just always give it your all.”

The 5-foot, 7-inch guard is averaging a team-high 16.5 points to lead an experienced Rustin group. Unsurprisingly, Riley’s a similar mold as a player to her mother.

“She’s probably surpassed anything that I’ve ever done or will do, so I’m excited for her next four years,” Lauren said. “I was similar; scrappy, loved to rebound, loved to get in there, and grind with the bigs. I was only [5-foot-6] but I definitely see a lot of glimpses in the type of player I was in her, which is pretty cool.”

Those traits, Riley said, caught Widener’s interest.

“They like that I can scrap, I can jump, I can rebound, I can shoot — pretty much everything,” she added. “They love that I hustle, [and] dive on the floor.”

Lauren was an assistant at Downingtown East for four years before getting the head coaching position at Rustin in 2019. She also co-founded the Delco Goats AAU organization in 2018.

When the Rustin job opened, it provided an unexpected opportunity to eventually coach Riley with the Golden Knights.

“It’s been awesome,” Lauren said. “I’m so lucky to have that extra time with her. For me sometimes it’s hard because she is my daughter. We kind of have a rule that when we step into the gym, we are not mother-daughter, we are player-coach.”

Riley arrived at Rustin a year later in 2020-21 and became a starter in her sophomore season where she averaged 7.2 points for a Golden Knights team that went 12-4, won a Ches-Mont League championship, and advanced to the District 1-6A quarters.

She was an All-Ches-Mont honorable mention last season and averaged 7.8 points as a junior as the Golden Knights won their second straight Ches-Mont League title, the District 1-5A championship, and advanced to the state semifinals.

The Golden Knights are off to an 11-3 start overall and 4-1 in the National Division of the Ches-Mont League, looking like a top PIAA District I competitor once again.

“It’s been awesome,” Riley said. “This year’s just been so fun. Everyone’s getting along. Even though I’m the leader, everyone’s involved. It doesn’t matter who’s on the court. There’s always a leader.”

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And Riley isn’t the only basketball player in the Stackhouse family. Lauren’s younger daughters, Mackenzie, who’s in the eighth grade, and Madison (third grade) also play and will be in the Rustin hoops pipeline.

Lauren, however, won’t completely halt her coaching relationship with Riley. She’ll still be tempted to break down film and send texts with postgame advice.

But she’ll also enjoy just being a mom in the stands next year.

“I’ll never trade the minutes that I’ve gotten and the relationship,” Lauren said. “I’m excited to not coach her in the years to come. I will say that. I’m excited for her to do her own thing.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.