ROCKY RIVER, Ohio — Role player. Nothing more.

That's how Elaine Hasek Robinson, a 2010 Mars graduate, describes her high school basketball career with the Planets.

“We had Lily Grenci (Mars all-time leading scorer) on our team,” Robinson said. “She was a fantastic player. All I needed to do was be a support player.

“Lily and I are good friends to this day.”

And Robinson's basketball role has changed — dramatically.

Still ranked among the all-time top 10 in three categories in women's basketball at Waynesburg University, Robinson is in her fifth year as girls basketball coach at Rocky River High School in Ohio, near Cleveland.

She was named Great Lakes Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Pirates to a 17-1 record this season. Rocky River avenged its only loss by defeating Elyria Catholic, 50-40, in the conference title game.

“It's been so exciting, seeing this all come together,” Robinson said. “My first three seasons here, we were 26-44. But we were building something.”

Rocky River finished 19-6 last year. This year's team has two senior and three junior starters. Many of them have been starting since their freshman year.

The Pirates have not had a dominant scorer this season. Five players average between 8.6 and 11.5 points per game.

“All egos have been eliminated here,” Robinson said.

“We won the league championship while I was seven months pregnant with our first child, during COVID ... It's been quite a year.”

Robinson majored in mathematics and secondary education at Waynesburg. She knew she wanted to get into coaching then.

She still ranks eighth at Waynesburg with 599 career rebounds, fifth with a .754 free throw percentage and fourth with 110 games played.

“We had winning seasons and it was fun,” Robinson said. “I love basketball. I wanted to coach. Sam Jones was my coach at Waynesburg and he's still there.

“We built such a wonderful relationship. He texted me when I was named Coach of the Year. I wanted to build similar relationships with young adults.”

Upon graduation from Waynesburg in 2014, Robinson served as a graduate assistant coach at Defiance College in Toledo, Ohio, for two years.

“I was 50-50 between wanting to coach college or high school,” Robinson said.

Then the Rocky River opportunity came up.

“They took a chance on a 24-year-old who had never been a high school coach, even an assistant, before,” Robinson said. “I am so grateful for that.

“I love it here. I'm not looking to go anywhere else.”

Robinson is a math teacher at Rocky River High School along with coaching the girls basketball team.

And she's developed a youth basketball program in the school district that she hopes will sustain the success attained at the high school level.

“Even though I never played for her, I remember going to (current Mars coach) Dana Petruska's youth basketball camps as a kid,” Robinson said. “They were also much fun, simply a blast. And it got us involved in the sport at a young age.

“We established that same philosophy here and it's growing.”

Rocky River now has nine travel teams in girls basketball from grades 3-6, two seventh grade teams and two eighth grade teams.

“I get around to see all of them,” Robinson said. “Our philosophy throughout the system is to 'light up the courts' with defensive intensity. We have system-wide t-shirts given to every player that says that.

“These young girls, even in grade school, are already a part of our program.”

Robinson is grateful to her parents for “pushing me in the right direction.

“I really love teaching and coaching,” she said. “This is a great career path for me. I'm very happy.”