PORT ALLEGANY was 3-10 last season. The poor record was in large part an aberration due to the pandemic. They went 9-9 in the 2019-2020 season.
Port finished out the season 10-12, not good enough for the playoffs, but much better than last year. They have been in this spot before, solid but not postseason-worthy. The Gators haven’t made it to the District 9 playoffs in several years.
This year feels different though, and the players are the reason why.
“Last year, our three sophomores (Drew Evens, Noah Archer, Blaine Moses) that played a ton of minutes on varsity, now this year they’re juniors,” said Port coach Kyle Babcock. “They’ve improved a ton from the beginning of the season… They’ve been playing together since fourth, fifth, sixth grade. They’ve improved a ton. Hopefully they keep growing.”
That core of three juniors, Evens, Archer and Moses, as well as one sophomore, Braylon Button, will be back next year.
Moses is averaging nearly a double-double a game with 8.8 points and 8.8 boards a contest. Button is doing almost as well, with 8.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Evens has been a constant scorer and effective on defense, putting up 11.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.4 steals per game. While Archer has chipped in 6.2 points and 2.9 assists.
“YOU ARE YOUR RECORD” is a nearly infallible quote from legendary football coach Bill Parcells.
Port is no exception to that. But their record is also a reason why Babcock feels that the team’s progress won’t disappear between this year and next.
The Gators lost twice to Coudersport, once in overtime and the other by six points in regulation while holding the Falcons to just 45 points. They fell to Otto-Eldred and Cameron County twice, but the second game in each series was by just five and six points, respectively. They didn’t lose another league game otherwise. They struggled against some of the bigger schools they played, but still managed to hang tough in most of them.
Yes, their record is a couple games under .500. They’re a team that hasn’t definitively gotten over the hump, yet. But their record also says they are very, very close. And it feels more than fair to suggest that they should, definitively, be a good team come next season.
“Next year’s looking pretty promising,” said Babcock. “We only started one senior this year… We have that core of juniors and we also have a really good eighth grader that’ll be a freshman next year… Last practice, we were laughing cause Evens was dunking. Button, he’s pretty close to dunking, and then the eighth grader, we have coming up, he can dunk too. I’ve never had a team with the size that we’ll have next year.”
THE SMETHPORT girls basketball team finished last season with a poor record, too. It went 2-15 in the pandemic-affected season. It had been under .500 in 2019-2020, but not that bad.
This season, however, the Lady Hubbers are not only a playoff team, but they’re a squad with quality wins under its belt. At 14-6, they beat perennial contender Coundersport. Outside of two games to Otto-Eldred and one to Coudy, their only other league loss was to Northern Potter, also a playoff team.
Similar to Port, Smethport’s turnaround starts with the players.
The team has three senior starters: Sabrina Tanner, Danielle Nelson and Coryn McClain. Tanner and McClain work inside, pulling down 7.5 and 6.4 boards, respectively. They attack teams down low and give Smethport a distinct height advantage, while averaging 3.8 and 5.1 points per contest. Nelson plays on the perimeter, scoring 4.6 points per game while nabbing 2.6 steals, 4.8 rebounds and dishing out 2.4 assists.
“This group of seniors,” said Smethport coach Chad Goodman. “They’ve been through it all. One-win seasons, three-win seasons, and they just didn’t let that deter them. They persevered and we’ve been working for four years with this senior group.”
Those seniors were reinforced by a stellar sophomore season from Elizabeth Hungiville. She’s averaged nearly a double-double, with 13.8 and 9.5 points and rebounds a game. Hungiville has been the engine of the Lady Hubbers offense and a big reason why they control the glass. Junior Abby Lutz is another strong player who will be back. She shoots 31% from three and scores 8.6 points a game. Her and Lutz’ outside work helps space the floor for Hungiville, McClain and Tanner.
“You have to develop at the younger level,” Goodman said. “We’re fortunate enough to have two outstanding players who (aren’t seniors) who do the bulk of our scoring. That’s what it’s gonna take going forward… Having the younger players be able to experience this. Hopefully it goes a long way in the future.”
NORTHERN POTTER is set to host Smethport in the first round of the District 9 Class A playoffs. The game should have some extra juice, too. In the regular season, NoPo won the first match by 22 while Smethport won the second by five after the Lady Panthers made a late push.
Even bigger, it will be the first time the Smethport seniors will have made the playoffs.
“The seasons they’ve endured over the last few years have been difficult,” said Goodman. “For them to experience a winning season in the program, to actually exceed that, that’s huge for them and a great accomplishment for them.”
The 1A playoffs are no joke, a loaded Elk County Catholic team is the No. 1 seed while North Clarion, O-E and DuBois Central Catholic round out the top four. If Smethport wins, they’ll have to face a Lady Crusader team coming off a bye. Regardless of the outcome, this season was a success. And Goodman has high hopes the Lady Hubbers can keep building off of it.
“I feel like going forward, at full-strength, we’ve proven we can play with some of the top tier teams, at times,” Goodman said. “Hopefully we take that as a confidence builder going in (to the playoffs).”
