Berks Bests: Zena Edwards Lutz Couldn't Stop Scoring at Hamburg, Mount St. Mary's
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Editor's Note: This story is part of Berks Bests, a summer series spotlighting the all-time leading scorers from Berks County girls basketball programs. Throughout the summer, we'll revisit some of the greatest careers in local basketball history and catch up with the players who left their mark on their schools and communities.
When Hamburg's Zena Edwards Lutz finished her high school career in 1985, she was the leading scorer in Berks County girls basketball history.
She did it before the introduction of the 3-point line in Pennsylvania girls basketball and while playing with the larger boys basketball.
Edwards Lutz accumulated 2,231 career points with the Hawks, a total that was eclipsed three season later by Daniel Boone's Wendy Davis, who remains the county's all-time leading scorer with 2,504 career points.
The 80's can still lay claim to the title of golden era in Berks girls basketball. Edwards Lutz was a crucial part of that equation. Three of the six 2,000-point scorers in Berks history played in the 80's, the other being Kutztown's Stacey Jack Edwards.
While Edwards Lutz's record was also surpassed by Schuylkill Valley's Corielle Yarde in 2008, she remains the No. 3 scorer in Berks history and the top scorer in Hamburg's history by 951 points. Only three other Hawks girls basketball players have scored 1,000 points.
Edwards Lutz scored 26.7 ppg as a senior and corralled 1,185 career rebounds. She was selected to the All-Berks team three times before playing at Mount St. Mary's, where her scoring acumen didn't diminish.
"I just wanted to play and win," Edwards Lutz recently said to BGB. "Shooting was my favorite part of the game and I spent a lot of time working on it."
When she got to college, she was able to use the smaller basketball and 3-point line to her advantage.
Her 1,416 points ranks 10th in program history. Other places her name shows up in the record book include career points per game (13.7, tied for ninth), field-goal percentage (.543, tied for third, min. 300 attempts), 3-point percentage (.453, first, min. 100 attempts), and free-throw percentage (.823, second, min. 150 attempts).
By the end of her career, she was inducted in the Mount's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Berks County Chapter of Pennsylvania Hall of Fame in 1998.
She's also a Hall of Famer on the softball diamond, where she became one of the area's top pitchers before eventually returning to Hamburg to coach the Hawks softball program for many years.
On the basketball court, she was a cold-blooded killer. That wasn't more evident than when Edwards Lutz scored 52 points in a game with Hamburg during her senior season, a total that still ranks as the most ever scored by a Berks girls in history.
According to BerksGirlsBasketball.com records, Fleetwood's Jill Henne (50 in 1993) is the only other player to score 50 or more. Only six others have scored 40 or more.
Despite the scoring exploits, one of Edwards Lutz's favorite memories had little to do with points.
"One of my favorite memories was winning the division junior year," she said. "It was the first division title Hamburg won for quite a while."
In 1984, Hamburg earned the first District 3 playoff victory in program history with a 55-48 victory over Warwick, breaking through after the Hawks had lost each of their first four district playoff games, including losses in Edwards Lutz's freshman and sophomore seasons.
"Another [favorite memory] was beating Warwick and being the first team to win a district game for Hamburg," she said.
The game of basketball shaped Edwards Lutz long after her playing career ended.
"I think playing basketball at Hamburg taught me that I was capable of more, and gave me the confidence I needed to accomplish many things," she said.
She credits much of that success to longtime Hamburg teacher and coach Cheryl Babula. Babula coached Edwards Lutz in seventh-grade basketball, the first organized sport she ever played.
At the time there were no elementary or travel teams, and because Hamburg didn't offer junior high softball, Edwards Lutz spent two years as manager of the varsity softball team, catching pitchers in practice and keeping the scorebook during games before joining the team as a freshman.
"Cheryl Babula was my science teacher and basketball ball coach in seventh grade and had the most impact on me as a student/athlete," Edwards Lutz said.
"She always ran a very tight ship with a good work ethic. Our teams were always close, we were very supportive of each other and had a lot of fun."
Babula's mentorship continued years later when Edwards Lutz returned to Hamburg as the varsity softball coach.
"Coach continued to support me when I became the high school softball coach at Hamburg," Edwards Lutz said. "That is one of the relationships I am most thankful for that I gained playing sports."
Today, Edwards Lutz works at Green Acres Golf Course and enjoys spending time with family and friends, working in her flower beds, riding her bike and reading.
She still follows Hamburg sports — mainly softball — and can look back fondly on a basketball career that has only been surpassed by two others in Berks girls basketball history.