Lydia Meredith racking up steals and more to lead top-ranked Portland St. Patrick girls basketball

There have been instances when Lydia Meredith has been asked by a coach to go out and get a steal.

And the Portland St. Patrick girls basketball player has typically been able to deliver.

The Shamrock senior has done that plenty during her four-year varsity career. She reached a rare milestone last week when she surpassed 400 career steals, becoming one of just 33 girls basketball players in state history to reach that mark, according to the Michigan High School Athletic Association's online record books.

Veteran Portland St. Patrick coach Al Schrauben said great anticipation, an understanding of the game and quick hands has helped Meredith reach that milestone.

"She’s been very good defensive player from the beginning," Schrauben said. "She’s gotten a little better choosing her times when she gambles, but she’s always been an exceptional defensive player."

Meredith, who is signed to play in college at Saginaw Valley State, is just the third player from Greater Lansing to top 400 steals, joining former Morrice standout Jamie Wesley (527) and ex-Lansing Christian standout Tiffanie Shives (441).

"I've always been good at reading the defense," Meredith said. "Defense is my favorite part of the game so I've always been good at reading what other players are doing and I look for opportunities in my defense because it usually creates offense."

Meredith led the area with an average of 6.0 steals per game through last week. But she's been more than just a defensive standout, also emerging as one of the area's top scorers while helping Portland St. Patrick (12-0) own the No. 1 ranking in Division 4 in the Associated Press poll.

Meredith has been one of the top 10 scorers in the area with her average of 18.2 points for the CMAC-leading Shamrocks, who travel to face Division 4 No. 2-ranked Fowler on Tuesday in a key league contest. Her scoring average has increased by nearly five points this winter. Schrauben has noticed plenty of improvement from Meredith as a shooter and believes her ability to get to the basket has aided that growth as a scorer.

"Obviously, me getting steals, they obviously turn into layups," Meredith said. "On the offensive side, I worked a lot over this year not having to rely on my defense for offense as well. (It's) just getting in the gym shooting.

"More recently I've mostly focused on finishing at the rim because usually there's a lot of people that I'm getting through when I'm taking shots down low. Obviously, I've also worked on my 3-point shot a lot this past year and I think it's helped me as well."

Records and individual success aside, Meredith is thrilled with the position the Shamrocks have put themselves in. St. Patrick has an opportunity to take a big step toward its first league title since 2012 on Tuesday. And Meredith wants to continue to be a leader on and off the court as her team eyes the postseason.

"I feel like we've always been good, but we've never really proven it," Meredith said. "This year we really took that step to be like, OK, this is our year. We want to go far in the tournament, we want to win our league. We took that step and we're super close. Half of us are related. Even then, we hang out all the time. We always go out to eat together and I think that's really helped."

Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lydia Meredith's all-around game leading No. 1 Portland St. Patrick