CM girls’ hoops: young but experienced

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP, PA – Long gone are those seasons without a win for Central Mountain girls’ basketball. The program has been rebuilt under head coach Scott Baker and his sixth year at the helm of the Lady Wildcats holds promise for a successful one.

Central Mountain was extremely young a season ago and still put together a 9-14 mark and the bulk of that team returns, led by senior Kiahna Jones. The four-year starter led the team a year ago in scoring at 8.7 points per game and rebounds at 7 per game. Coach Baker said big things are expected from her in terms of leadership, in addition to production.

Jones will be surrounded by a relatively youthful cast who nevertheless gained valuable varsity experience last season.

As coach Baker explained, “We return a number of young ladies that gained very valuable experience last year.  Overall, we are still very young.  With just two seniors, the roster is littered with youth.  That is not unlike last season however, this year despite the fact that we are still very young, those who will play at the varsity level have a least a year of doing so.  Last year was invaluable for us in gaining experience and growing over the course of the season.  We are hopeful that the experience will pay huge dividends this season.  While we know there will still be growing pains, we are more experienced at this point this year than we were at this time last year.”

The squad of 22 includes seven returning letterwinners, one of whom, Marisa Wheeler, will miss the season with a knee injury. Coach Baker talked about his personnel: sophomore Taylor Doyle who had some big games as the year progressed last season has the potential to develop into a consistent scorer. Senior Tara Mader will provide consistency and leadership from the guard spot.  Juniors Danica Kelly and Keely Rohrbach bring a year of experience and the potential for a breakout season. Junior Morgan Temple will compete for time at the varsity level for the first time.

Sophomores Ava Doyle, Lena Walker and Macy Plowman are showing promise and will be looked to for major contributions throughout the season. Any of or all three could start, according to the coach. Sophomore Jacey Tripp is competing for varsity time as well.  There are several freshmen who could see limited varsity time at some point in the season.  Coach Baker lamented the loss of Wheeler due to ACL surgery. He said she would have provided pesky perimeter defense.

As for goals and expectations, coach Baker says they remain the same this year as they have been every year that he’s have coached: “That is we want to get better every day and every game.  Every day and game is an opportunity to get better and we want to be sure that is occurring.  By doing so, we can assure that we are playing our best at the end of the season when championships can be won.”

The Lady Wildcats will again compete in the District 4-dominated Heartland Conference but will go the District 6 route postseason. As for the competition, Coach Baker said, “We do not spend a ton of time worrying about other teams in our district and conference.  We understand that both will provide formidable challenges.  With that said, we feel that if we take care of ourselves and get better every day, we can ultimately be competitive in both the PHAC and D6.”

Central Mountain will start the season Monday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m. with a home game against Bellefonte.