A bushel basket can hold just about eight dozen lacrosse balls.

That’s nearly what this Pleasant Valley senior scored this season.

To be exact, her 98 goals - coupled with 24 assists - has earned Alexandra Bush the Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year.

She is a two-time recipient, having also won the award last year.

This season capped her outstanding career with Pleasant Valley in which she scored 245 goals overall - and that’s without playing any games during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, however, did not begin well for the Bears - who in the end won the Eastern Penn Conference title and finished second in the district playoffs. Bush felt an immediate disappointment after PV’s first three games, but she kept her focus on her team and her game.

“We realized we needed to get all our parts working together to start winning,” Bush said.

After an 0-2-1 start, the Bears won nine of their next 10 games. Bush tallied 51 goals during that stretch and became the scoring machine - something that didn’t surprise her mother and coach, Toni Bush.

“Alex is the longest running player in our program,” said Coach Bush. “She’s been playing lacrosse since she was 5 years old, and to see her develop her raw skills into the player that she is today has been a wonderful accomplishment for me and for our team.

“We knew she could be a force at the net,” Toni Bush said. “Her physical strength and speed were skills that make her a scoring threat every time she has the ball, and by the fact that she’s always played lacrosse with and against older girls helped her to not lose her composure this season.”

“I love the physical part of the game,” Alexandra Bush said. “I have a training program that is set up for football and basketball players to strengthen my legs. I thought I did OK in our first few games this year, but then my stamina got better and I could use my speed to get past the defense to take my shots.”

She will hold on to memories of a few of her many goals this season.

“I scored a goal against Emmaus in the final game of the districts when I won the draw at the center of the field and I drove all the way to the front of the goalie and beat her from the right side,” said Bush, who was also selected First Team All-League at the midfield position. “We were losing in the second half, and that goal had tied the game for us.”

She’ll also remember scoring two goals on behind-the-back shots.

“That took a lot of practice,” she said. “You have to keep the ball on your stick when you cross in front of the goalie because she’s following the ball with her eyes, and then you have to swing the stick and the ball behind your back and backhand the shot into what is usually a wide-open net.”

Bush scored seven goals in a game three times this year against Emmaus, Northwestern, and also Easton - in which she scored half her team’s goals in a 14-12 win in the District 11 semifinals. She set five school records with career assists (108) and most forced turnovers in a season with the 50 she caused this year.

“Pleasant Valley doesn’t get much recognition for their sports programs, but we made some noise this year for our school and it’s good to see us get this attention,” she said.

She will carry her lax skills from Pleasant Valley to St. Francis (PA) University where she will play next year and major in psychology and business.

A former club player, Bush will now be moving on from her family who has been significantly involved with the Bears’ program since she was in grade school.

“I know how much my success and our team’s success has meant to my mom,” said Bush. “It’s been special to play for her all these years as it was to get to play with my sister, Devon, this season, too.

“Even my dad was a part of our family team. He was our stat keeper at the games. It’s been exciting and rewarding playing with them through the years.”

For her coach/mom, Alexandra put her final punctuation mark at the end of her career at Pleasant Valley with a personal tribute.

“Almost everything I know about lacrosse I learned from my mom. We had the kind of relationship in which I could make suggestions to her during games and she would listen.

“Of course, playing for your mother has some extra stress to it because I always wanted to make her proud of me.”

Making her mother proud she has done, and making her 2022 season such an outstanding individual achievement has earned Alexandra Bush the Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year.