It’s often said that if a team wants to be successful, it has to first learn how to win.
That figures to be the biggest challenge facing a Bradford girls basketball team lacking experience in certain areas.
“We have to learn how to win,” Lady Owls coach Bob Hannon acknowledged. “Each night we’re going to have to get a little bit better. We have to play hard all the time because that’s the way the other teams are going to play you and if you take it easy in practice, it’s not going to get you prepared for the games.”
After going 3-19 in 2016-17, the Lady Owls will be hoping that the younger players who saw game action last year are able to take the next step. At the same time, the players that have more experience will be relied on to an even larger degree.
Bradford has a big pair of shoes to fill, as 1,000 point scorer Bri Wells now plays just down the road at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
“Putting the ball in the basket’s going to be a big thing,” Hannon said. “We lose Bri from last year, which is 20 points a game. Somewhere amongst the starters we’re going to have to pick up that 20 points and a little bit more.”
Senior forward Brinya Moffett (who averaged 8.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per game last year) figures to be a key cog in what Bradford tries to do this year.
“Brinya’s going to have to do a lot for us,” Hannon said. “Number one, she’s going to have to control things out there, be level-headed and not get into foul trouble because with our small numbers we’ve got to make sure that we stay on the floor. She’s going to have to rebound for us and give us some inside scoring.”
Fellow senior Taylor Smith was looking to also be a key contributor, but she will be sidelined with mononucleosis for an unspecified time; Smith averaged 6.0 points and 2.4 rebounds last season.
Morgan Tyger and Makenzee Maley are a pair of juniors who figure to see plenty of action.
“Makenzee has been working really hard,” Hannon said. “She’s been playing really good defense for us. She’s a quiet girl but she’s very intense and we’re going to count on her to hopefully shut down the opposing team’s best player.”
Tyger will be facing a bit of a learning curve after not playing last season.
“She’s coming along well, but I don’t care what you do; you take two years off and it’s going to take a while to get back into the swing of things,” Hannon said.
Among the sophomores, guard Erica Marshall will be looked upon to fill a variety of roles after averaging 7.0 points and 4.0 rebounds as a freshman last year.
“Erica has been a very good worker,” Hannon said. “She can do a lot of things for us; she’s probably our most versatile player. She can go to the boards, she hustles extremely well, she plays good, solid defense, she can shoot the ball. Extremely fast on the court; I think if she gets out on the floor there aren’t many girls who are going to be able to keep up with her.”
Emily Warner and Kelcie Moffett both earned letters as freshmen last season, and will need to provide even more this year.
“They’re going to have to pick up a bigger role,” Hannon said. “They’re going to have to do some scoring and definitely go to the boards for us and play strong defense on the inside if we’re going to be competitive.”
Others who should see time coming off the bench are senior Destinee Deitz, sophomores Kate Huber and MacKenzie Swanson, and freshmen Kailei Mason and Hannah Lary.
For Hannon, making sure his younger players are able to adjust to the varsity game will be one of the biggest challenges from game to game.
“That’s going to be the big thing: how do we react to pressure?” he said. “How do we react to… now you’re at the varsity level and you’re going to have bigger stronger girls going against you. If we react to that well, we’ll be ok.”
Taking advantage of the opportunities presented to them will be a key for the Lady Owls this year, especially considering the lack of depth in the lineup.
“We’re just going to have to mix things up,” Hannon said. “Number one, we have to stay out of foul trouble because we don’t have a deep enough bench to be able to get somebody in foul trouble and then take away that talent level.”
There figure to be some growing pains throughout the campaign, but it will be fascinating to watch how this young Bradford team gels together.
“I think we’ll be competitive,” Hannon said. “We should be pretty exciting to watch. It’ll just be another growing experience for these younger players.”
Bradford opens its season tonight at the Hollidaysburg Tournament at 7:30 p.m.
