Youngstown State women's basketball graduate Lilly Ritz has signed a contract to play professionally in Switzerland.
Ritz, a native of Cambridge, Ohio, who played the final two years of her collegiate career at Youngstown State, will play for the Helios VS Basket club of the Swiss Basketball League Women. That's the highest tier of women's professional basketball in Switzerland, and Helios has won five SBLW championships in the last eight seasons. The team's 2022-23 season began in October and concluded in the semifinals of the playoffs in April.
Ritz was named the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year and All-League First Team in 2022-23. She went on to earn Mid-Major Honorable Mention All-America distinction by the World Exposure Report. She ranked in the top 10 in the country in double-doubles, rebounds per game and field-goal percentage. She led the Horizon League in those three categories, and she also ranked third in scoring (17.4 ppg), second in steals (1.83) and third in blocks (1.23 bpg). In league games, she led the circuit in rebounding (11.5) and field-goal percentage (.590) while ranking second in scoring (17.1) and blocks (1.5).
She was also a First-Team All-Horizon League selection in 2021-22, which was her first at YSU as a transfer from Division II Wheeling. In her two seasons as a Penguin, Ritz scored 978 points and grabbed 595 rebounds for averages of 17.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. She is one of just two YSU players to be named to the All-Horizon League First Team twice since the school joined the conference in 2001-02. Her 595 rebounds were the third-highest total over consecutive seasons in school history, and her 978 points were the seventh-most. She broke YSU's school records for single-season field-goal percentage and career field-goal percentage.
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