In the spring of 2020 the Head Coach of the Long Island Lutheran girls program Rich Slater decided he was going to resign to take over the Wheatley boys varsity job. When he made this announcement the entire girls’ basketball community went wild. However LuHi’s athletic director was extremely confident because he had his coach in waiting right on the bench in former player Christina Raiti ‘12.

Raiti was a standout at LuHi and had been an assistant under Slater for four seasons helping coach several prospects to the college level. She knew the shoes were going to be difficult to step in to but Slater had been preparing her for the assignment. He had her meet all the right people plus made sure Raiti knew the system inside and out. While everyone was speculating whether she could handle it or not Raiti was confident knowing it was now her time.

In year 1 the Lady Crusaders got off to a bit of a rocky start but finished the year on fire. They were 14-8 but showed potential and that they had a few building blocks for next year. Now fast forward to this season where the girls are 19-2 and nationally ranked in the top 3. They were even ranked as high as number 1 during one point of the season and have several high-quality non-league wins.

Raiti has constructed one of the most impressive rosters in the entire country at LuHi. Her squad features two Seniors that will be playing college next year and several D1 prospects who are underclassmen. This group is special and only going to get better over the next few seasons.

While this season has almost been perfect for Raiti she can now add Coach of the Year to her growing trophy case. The Naismith committee selected her as a nominee and gave her the award. She thanked everyone who “took a chance” on her and seemed to really appreciate all the support she has received. We think Coach Raiti is a terrific coach who is just scratching the potential at LuHi and it wouldn’t surprise us if she ended up passing her mentor in wins when it’s all said and done.