Saint Vincent women’s basketball coach Jimmy Petruska can see it already. Some day, his junior point guard, Jenna Lafko, is going to be a coach.

Not only are X’s and O’s in her blood — her father, Joe, is the longtime boys basketball coach at Hampton — Lafko, Petruska said, understands people and how to connect with them.

But Petruska doesn’t want to rush her into the coaching profession yet, not when she is just blossoming as a player. Lafko has been one of the catalysts behind the Bearcats’ 9-0 record in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference and current seven-game winning streak.

Her numbers are up significantly across the board from last season: 14.1 points per game, up from 6.9; 4.2 assists from 2.4; 4.7 rebounds from 3.3; 83.7 free-throw percentage from 73.3; .519 field goal percentage from .400; and 43.9 3-point percentage from 22.0.

Some of that, Lafko said, is the result of natural progression, getting used to the college game and to Petruska’s system. The biggest change, however, is her shot.

“I was in the gym constantly,” the Hampton grad said. “I worked with my dad. I was a pass-first point guard, but I wanted to add something else because it was easier to defend me and defend our team if I was pass-first.”

A slight change in footwork helped Lafko to improve her shot. Petruska said she was taking a pronounced first step before getting into her shooting motion, and that was affecting her balance. Now, she takes a smaller step, and the results speak for themselves.

“Her mid-range is very good,” Petruska said. She can get to the rim on almost anyone, and her 3-point shot is very good as well.

“When you have players around her who also can create their own shot, it’s hard to defend.”

Madison Kollar (Latrobe) leads the team in scoring (15.9), and Lafko is next, but four other players average at least 6.3 per game. In a given game, it is not unusual for three or four players to score in double figures.

“Every single girl on this team wants each other to be successful,” Lafko said. “There is no selfishness. There’s no, ‘I can get my numbers every night.’ ”

Offense isn’t the only area where Lafko made a jump. Her team-leading 58 steals already are more than she had last season, and her 3.2 per-game average is tied for the PAC lead.

She also has become a more physical player. Going from playing against girls who were 15 and 16 to facing women who were 21 and 22, she said, was an eye-opener.

“I never lifted a day in my life in high school,” she said, “and you get here and you are on a very strict lifting regimen. We go through some very gritty, tough teams in this league.”

So far, no one has been tougher than the Bearcats. Big games loom Wednesday at Grove City (7-2 in the PAC), which took Saint Vincent to overtime in their first meeting, and Feb. 8 when second-place Westminster (8-1) visits Carey Center.

How can the Bearcats maintain their spot atop the standings? To answer that, Lafko has a little coach-speak.

“We’ve gotten better every single game we have played,” she said. “Our outside-conference schedule was very difficult and prepared us for our in-conference schedule.

“But we can be better at the little things: defense, rebounding, sharing the ball. Just the little things that will get us to where we want to be.”

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