There are several ways that Bethlehem Catholic High School feels like a second home for freshman Kamryn Gallis.

For one, she’s heard the stories of her mom, Tiffany Bedics-Gallis, who graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,804 points before Kalista Walters, the daughter of current Bethlehem Catholic coach Arnold Alleyne, soared to the top of the list just over a decade ago.

Now, a student trying to carry on her mother’s legacy, Gallis sees that same gymnasium as a home primarily because there’s an argument to be made that she spends more time there than she does at her actual house.

Just ask her mom.

“I’m always the last car at the Bethlehem Catholic gym. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve wasted sitting in the parking lot waiting for her to come out,” Bedics-Gallis said. “I literally bring my work with me because I know she’s going to stay.

“People think I hold her hostage in the gym. It’s really the other way around.”

That work paid off in Gallis’ debut season, and while injuries shortened her season and caused frustration, the young star with multiple Division I offers still managed to share the team lead in scoring (12.2 ppg) and help lead the charge to a 10th consecutive district championship for the Golden Hawks.

Combined with infectious energy, two-way talent and a display of limitless untapped potential, Gallis earned her status as The Morning Call’s 2025-26 girls basketball rookie of the year.

“I’m definitely super grateful for the experience. I’m really looking forward to next year,” Gallis said. “With the injury, everything happens for a reason, but using that as motivation for next year and even trying to raise the goals like trying to get that EPC title, getting districts again, the state title even…we’re using it as motivation in the gym and wanting to work even harder.”

Before that injury, it didn’t take long for Gallis to introduce herself and break onto the scene.

In the season opener against Liberty, a PIAA Tournament qualifier from the season prior, Gallis erupted with a game-high 25 points and a solid defensive effort against the eventual EPC MVP in Ava Kopetskie. Perhaps the most defining moment from that game, and the most evident sign of things to come, came with the game already in hand and the mercy rule already in effect in the fourth quarter.

Gallis picked up Kopetskie in the frontcourt, stayed attached to her hip and forced a five-second violation that can only come from persistent effort and energy.

“The whole game, I’m just keeping the mindset of being hungry and being a dog,” Gallis said after that game. “She’s a great player, so I’m just trying my best to keep my hustle 100 percent and trying my best to shut her down.”

According to the two people who dedicate the most time allowing it to happen, this is just the product of Gallis’ constant pursuit of perfecting and advancing her craft.

“She’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met,” Bedics-Gallis said.

“This kid loves the game of basketball, and she’s relentless with the work that she puts in,” Alleyne said. “When you have a kid that you don’t have to push to go to the gym, I call them self starters. It’s so much easier when you have someone that you don’t have to push. The work ethic is there, the joy is there, and we have a good time training.”

Alleyne, the third-year coach of the Golden Hawks, deserves credit for that dedication as well and the Gallis family was quick to provide it.

“Coach Arnold will stay. He offers his time to every single player on that team, and whoever wants it, he’s there for them,” Bedics-Gallis said. “There’s no one that I’ve ever met that is willing to give any player that wants to get in the gym their time more than he does.”

“Like my mom was talking about, especially with Coach Arnold, the amount of time that he gives all of our players and everything that he does, even off the court, has helped me in so many ways,” Gallis said. “I’m just really grateful for him.”

Alleyne was one of the many reasons why the decision for Gallis to follow in her mother’s footsteps at Bethlehem Catholic was a “no-brainer,” and it’s a decision that nobody is regretting following a successful start to what could be the next in a long line of incredible careers representing the Golden Hawks locally and nationally.

“As a parent and former player at Bethlehem Catholic, [they] offered my entire family an amazing academic and athletic opportunity. Me going on to play at Lafayette and then I had two outstanding athlete brothers, John and Pat Bedics, who played at North Carolina State and were phenomenal in their own right,” Bedics-Gallis said. “Myself and her and her dad decided that Bethlehem Catholic was the best choice for her … I would give all my time back to the school because of the experience that I had there, so I wanted the same for my daughter.”

From sitting at the end of the bench in middle school to raising a championship trophy in her first season, Gallis is taking advantage of that same opportunity as she sets her sights on the state title her mom still regrets missing out on and, of course, a few of those “attainable” records that might get replaced along the way.

“I would say I have lots of goals. Trying to get player of the year, obviously, we were talking about state titles, continuing the district streak, and overall just trying my best to be a great teammate,” Gallis said on what the future holds. “Just all the goals we were talking about and just getting better as a player, coming out and just doing what we do as a team.”

Her coach handles plenty of calls from prospective collegiate suitors and when asked about the ceiling of his newest superstar, Alleyne was sure to be careful.

“I don’t even want to put a ceiling on it. She has such a will to win and a passion to get better that it continues to impress and improve as she puts the work in. I’ve trained many kids, but she shoots the ball the best,” Alleyne said. “And when you have a kid that’s great academically and great athletically, the sky is the limit because she has a similar passion for both. When you have someone that does both, that means she could go to an Ivy League school, so that widens her recruitment by her academically being so strong.

“I’m not going to put a limit on it because only she’s going to be able to control it.”

Derek Bast is a freelance reporter who can be found on Twitter/X at @derek_bast or reached by email at derekbast11@gmail.com.