CURWENSVILLE – Rusty McCracken, whose coaching background has been exclusively with boys teams, knows he has drawn a tough assignment in taking over the Curwensville Area High School girls basketball program, so he has set modest goals for the 2009-10 Lady Tide.
\”We have to learn how to win, so our big thing is getting the confidence to play the game,\” the 1979 Clearfield Area High School graduate said. \”We need to have confidence in ourselves and our teammates that everybody will be where they need to be and do what they have to do.\”
McCracken, who inherits a squad with five letterwinners, admits that\’s going to be a challenge since Curwensville was winless last season on the heels of a 1-21 campaign, the lone victory 38-30 over Ridgway on Feb. 5, 2008.
He\’s has been stressing fundamentals and teamwork in the pre-season in preparing the Lady Tide for Friday\’s opener, a Moshannon Valley League road test against Moshannon Valley.
\”Our strategy is to help each other score and not necessarily score ourselves,\” McCracken said. \”My ultimate goal is to get 10 girls scoring five points a game. Hopefully, most of them will reach that.\”
Points have been at a premium the last two seasons, Curwensville averaging only 27.4 and 31.7 after scoring at a 48.7 clip en route to the MVL and Allegheny Mountain League South Division titles and the school\’s first state playoff berth in the first of Vic Gearhart\’s three years at the helm.
Almost a third of last season\’s offense was lost with the graduation of three-year starter Hannah Walls (241 points, 148 rebounds), who ended her career with 501 points. Other seniors were two-year starter Alesia Bressler (114, 120), Jenessa Stiles (30, 68) and Jenae Stiles, whose playing time was limited because of a knee injury.
Heading the returnees are starters Tess Bloom, a two-year letterwinner in the backcourt, and Taylor Bumbarger.
Bloom, a senior with 336 career points, was the No. 2 pointmaker with 186 last season, averaging just over nine a game while snaring 100 rebounds.
Bumbarger, a junior, netted 81 points and grabbed 101 rebounds.
Senior Shayla Buzard (14 points, 54 rebounds), junior Courtney Bachelier and sophomore Savannah Strickland (24 points, 21 rebounds) are the other letterwinners.
McCracken doesn\’t have a set lineup yet because Bachelier has missed much of the pre-season because of illness, but Bloom will be the playmaker and probably will be joined in the backcourt by Strickland.
\”Tess is gonna have to keep everybody in line, and Savannah is gonna have to help handle the ball, especially in the early going,\” McCracken said.
Bumbarger, who has been shifted from inside to the wing, also can help on the outside.
\”She really played out of position last year,\” McCracken said. \”All through junior high, she was a guard, but she had to learn a new position because she was one of the taller girls on the team.
\”When Courtney gets back into playing shape, we\’ll be platooning those four out front.\”
Working on the inside will be Buzard and junior Katie Wriglesworth among others.
\”Shayla has more varsity experience, but I\’m really looking for Katie to step into one of the big positions,\” McCracken said. \”She\’s athletic enough to start clearing the boards.\”
He expects Lindsay Barrett, a senior in her first season on the hardwood, to help out in the rebounding department as she gets more court time and juniors Paige McCracken and Kate Norris to earn their share of minutes, too.
\”I\’m hoping some of the other sophomores and freshmen can find their way on to the varsity court as well,\” the first-year coach added.
The Lady Tide again will compete in the five-team MVL and four-team AML-South Division.
McCracken served as an assistant coach at his alma mater in 1990-91 when his brother Jerry was head coach of the Bisons, guided the 1991-92 Coudersport boys team to a 17-8 record in his first year of teaching at Oswayo Valley and then coached several years at that Northern Tier school earlier this decade, including two as head coach when the Green Wave was 20-27.
He will be assisted by former junior varsity coach Dawna (Coons) Wheeler.
Bob Eshelman, who was a volunteer assistant under Gearhart, will coach the jayvees.
The Curwensville roster, with (*) denoting letterwinners:
Seniors – Lindsay Barrett, Tess Bloom (*), Shayla Buzard (*).
Juniors – Courtney Bachelier (*), Taylor Bumbarger (*), Brittany Carter, Paige McCracken, Kate Norris, Katie Wriglesworth.
Sophomores – Maria Angelo, Hannah Bressler, Katie Duttry, Savannah Strickland (*).
Freshmen – Geri Bressler, Bailey Dale, Rebecca Johnson, Samaria Newkirk, Cheyenne Pentz, Kaitlynn Sass, Katrina Seaburn, Sammi Test, Sarah Wriglesworth.
* * * * * *
The Curwensville schedule, with * denoting Moshannon Valley League game and # denoting Allegheny Mountain League South Division game:
December
11 – at Moshannon Valley*
15 – at Brockway#
18 – Ridgway#
23 – at Glendale*
January
4 – Harmony*
6 – at West Branch*
12 – Johnsonburg
13 – at DuBois Central Catholic#
18 – Glendale*
19 – Kane
25 – West Branch*
26 – at Ridgway#
29 – Brockway#
February
1 – DuBois Central Catholic#
3 – at Harmony*
5 – at Johnsonburg
8 – Bucktail
9 – Sheffield
12 – at Kane
15 – at Clearfield
17 – Moshannon Valley*
Junior varsity games will starts at 6 p.m. and varsity games at approximately 7:30.
