Ledyard — It was during Christmas break, Ledyard High School girls' basketball practice, and the cell phone belonging to senior point guard Sarah Serbascewicz was ringing … for the second time. Assistant coach Don MacKenzie walked by it and noticed the caller ID said, “Mom,” and, sensing it was urgent, he picked it up.

Serbascewicz's mother, Christy, proceeded to let MacKenzie know that Sarah was having a problem with a tooth and would need to leave practice early for a dentist's appointment. Sarah's answer, as she kept practicing: reschedule, please.

“She's one of those players you hope you get as a coach,” Ledyard's head coach, Pete Vincent, was saying this week. “She never takes a drill off. She never takes a play off. That's what you hope you have. … She wants to be on the floor for 32 minutes. She was handed the ball her first game as a freshman against Waterford. I couldn't take her out, even as a freshman.”

Likewise on Friday, the Colonels, who are 4-4 with Serbascewicz and fellow four-year starter Julia Lavin guiding a group of younger players, had the task of facing one of Connecticut's top-ranked teams, unbeaten New London, in an Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I matchup.

New London won 71-35. The Colonels were trailing 43-15 when Serbascewicz, who is diminutive at 5-foot-3, got a defensive rebound and immediately began a full sprint back down the floor with the ball, drawing a blocking foul against New London. A few moments later, Serbascewicz fouled New London's 6-0 center Tai Pagan, trying to guard her.

And on Serbascewicz went. She drove and scored. She pulled up for a jump shot. With 4 minutes, 53 seconds remaining and Ledyard trailing 65-30, Serbascewicz, the little guard that could, converted a three-point play.

To quit. It is not something that's in her wiring.

“I definitely like to think of myself as tough,” Serbascewicz said after the game. “Being, most of the time, the shortest player on the court, you have to be tough. I think over the years I've just worked super hard knowing you're the smallest person. I call myself 5-3, but not quite.”

Underrated?

Ledyard athletic director Jim Buonocore, a former football coach, calls Serbascewicz a “ferocious competitor.” He also believes she is vastly underrated.

“She is one of the most underrated athletes in the conference,” Buonocore said. “She's finally starting to get the recognition she deserves. … Everything she does, she competes. As a coach and in my role as athletic director, for her to represent the school to the level she does, it's fun to watch.”

Serbascewicz was recently named as the ECC Girls' Athlete of the Week in a fan vote. She is averaging 19.6 points per game through the first eight games, with a 27-point performance against Wheeler on Dec. 19 and a 24-point effort against Bacon Academy two nights later in back-to-back victories.

The Colonels also have wins over Stonington and Berlin, perhaps an unexpected turn of events considering the young players that join Serbascewicz and Lavin in the Ledyard starting lineup, two sophomores and a freshman.

Serbascewicz, a two-time first team ECC Division I all-star, was named to the all-tournament team at the Centaur Holiday Classic this season at Woodstock Academy. She's received a variety of interest from colleges, including scholarship offers, but has yet to decide where she'll end up after graduation.

“Coming in as a freshman I was a little bit nervous, but I couldn't let my 'afraid' show if I was going to be the point guard,” Serbascewicz said. “… I think this year especially I have to have to be even more of a scorer. Coming into high school I was not a scoring guard at all. I had to build up my threat as a scorer.”

Early to rise

The way Serbascewicz polished her scoring touch: practice.

“She'll text me the night before, 'I want to come in at 6:40 (before school) and shoot till 7:25,'” Vincent said. “One time I just said, 'No. You need to sleep in. You need to rest.' She's playing 32 minutes a night. At 6:40 in the morning, maybe she could be getting a half-hour extra sleep. I have to tell her, 'You're not coming in tomorrow.'

“That's what separates her from a lot of players. What she's gotten has all been hard work. Nothing's been handed to her but the ball for that first game.”

To be honest, Serbascewicz doesn't believe she's all that underrated, although maybe she feels that her Ledyard team is.

“As a team, I don't think we get the respect we deserve,” she said. “When we beat someone, everyone labels it an upset. I don't think it's an upset. No one gets as much exposure as (Norwich Free Academy) and New London; that's expected. But Julia and I work our butt off. We have the most experience in the ECC as a backcourt.”

It is a quiet confidence Serbascewicz has developed, with her gradually becoming more vocal as the seasons passed. Yet as tough as she is on the court, Serbascewicz is as good-natured off it.

“So modest and gracious, not a sense of entitlement whatsoever,” Buonocore said.

Serbascewicz has played AAU basketball for the Connecticut Storm over several seasons with other ECC players such as New London's Cora Sawyer, Xaryia Melendez, Pagan and Spencer Roman, Waterford's Julianna Bonilla, Bacon Academy's Kellie Nudd and NFA's Kayley Ericson.

Once her AAU teammates came to surprise Serbascewicz's 14-year-old sister Jessica, who has special needs, at her dance recital. Following Friday's game, New London's Sawyer looked for Jessica especially to greet her.

“She likes to do dance and swim,” Serbascewicz said of her sister, who is never far from Sarah's side. “She gives me a run for my money. We play basketball and she blocks my shot. … I still push her around as her bigger sister.”

It is perhaps because of Jessica that Sarah hopes to major in sports medicine or become an occupational therapist.

“I've grown up accepting people's differences,” said Serbascewicz, who also grew up on a small farm in Ledyard, unloading silage and hay bales. “It just kind of inspires me to help other people.”

Serbascewicz began her athletic career riding horses, but, happily for Vincent who has coached her these last three-plus seasons, picked up basketball in the third grade.

“That's the one thing I instill: 'I don't want you to worry about the score, just play as hard as you can,'” said Vincent, whose team continues with a home game at 6 Monday night against Weaver. “… When (Sarah) takes the floor, she thinks she can win any game.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com