Published Wednesday, March 4, 1998
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Greenville head coach Robin Fisher, left, and assistant coach Nick White have some words of advice for their team during a timeout. (Clem Marion/Herald)
TEAM OF THE MONTH: : Greenville girls basketball
Lady Trojans find themselves on historic run
By Ed Farrell
Herald Sports Writer
The '96-97 athletic year was a memorable one in Greenville High School annals.
Three District 10 championship teams and another pair of Mercer County Athletic Conference championship contingents were the cornerstones of a program that, seemingly, simultaneously blossomed. The result was the school earning the annual Si Lyman Award as the county's most successful scholastic athletic program according to winning percentage.
Well, the magic of last year has materialized again thus far during '97-98, as the Lady Trojans' basketball team is enjoying the most successful season in the program's history. That's why the club has been selected as The Herald Sports Extra's Female Team of the Month for February.
``They want to be successful. They're winners, and they don't accept losing,'' summarized third-year head coach Robin Fisher.
Last year Greenville qualified for the District 10 playoffs, but was blown out in the opening round by perennial power Cranberry. This year, not only did the Lady Trojans win the school's first-ever D-10 playoff contest, but they exacted revenge on Cranberry, bursting out to a shocking 20-0 margin before settling for a 34-31 victory in the consy contest.
Fisher (40-33) said her senior quintet has served as the core of a club that has been building toward this type of success.
``Our seniors have been playing together now for three years,'' Fisher explained. ``Some of them started as sophomores when we weren't extremely deep with upperclassmen. They learned to play together, maximize each other's strengths while minimizing the weaknesses. Now they know what they're gonna do and trust in each other.
``We have outstanding girls,'' Fisher said following the Cranberry contest. ``They're team players. They want to win. They try to do, always, what's best for the team. They're unselfish in that way.''
Included among the ``firsts'' achieved by this year's contingent was a Mercer County Athletic Conference Class AA crown.
``We thought, at the beginning of the season, that we definitely wanted to go to the playoffs again and win the MCAC,'' Fisher related. ``We thought that goal was attainable, but we knew we'd have some stiff competition, especially from Grove City and Wilmington. But we had a very experienced team with a lot of seniors and some outstanding juniors.''
The starting senior nucleus includes 6-foot pivot Kirsten Keller, 5-8 frontliner Abrial Hayes, 5-6 small-forward Molly Brown, 5-5 shooting-guard Tracy Walter and 5-6 point-guard Celeste Buiser.
``This year, we've been blessed with an all-around good team,'' Fisher related. ``We do have an outstanding outside shooter (Walter), and when Kirsten is playing well, she's a great inside threat and she can rebound and play defense and has a good (shooting) touch. Abrial just does everything: she's one of our best defensive players, she jumps 3 feet (vertically) and she can score when we need her to. Celeste is a very smart point guard, has good floor sense, and she leads the team very well. Molly is not a great scorer, but she knows where she's supposed to be and always gets good inside position on the boards, makes great passes, and has come up with a few key steals.''
Entering this weekend's PIAA playoff game with District 6 titlist Central Cambria (21-6), 6 p.m. at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the Lady Trojans display a classic balanced scoring attack, led by Keller (337 points, 12.4 points per game), Walter (307, 11.3), Hayes (239, 8.8) and Buiser (222, 8.3).
``Everyone contributes,'' Fisher emphasized. ``And we don't lose much with our juniors. Sara Lewis and can score and rebound, Dana Yokubeak has good quickness and Amanda Henry does a little bit of everything. Our bench is strong. We have good starting players, but we also have good role players.
``I knew the ability was there; these kids are so talented,'' Fisher admitted. ``But they're also very smart _ they're all on the honor roll _ and that's been a great contributing factor in our success.''
Another strong suit, according to Fisher, is chemistry.
``Everything has to be working well for you to get into the state tournament,'' Fisher noted. ``And not only is the chemistry good with the girls, but our coaching staff has very good chemistry. We, certainly, would not be where we are without (assistant coaches) Nick White and Molly Jones. Nick's our `offensive man,' a veteran among veterans as far as coaching, and Molly has been outstanding in helping us defensively and getting us ready. We work very well together and they work well with the girls.
``It's not only the girls who have good chemistry; the coaching staff works well and communicates with the girls effectively.''
Competing in the combative MCAC has served Greenville well, Fisher said.
``A lot of our success is from playing against great competition. My hat's off to the MCAC. Comparing ourselves with Cranberry, day in and day out, we play really great competition, and I think they don't get to play as many strong teams as we do, and that may hurt them a little bit. They've won something like 112 straight in the TCAC _ which is an outstanding accomplishment _ but we're battling teams like Grove City, Slippery Rock, Sharon, Wilmington. Those games are always close.
``I think a lot of the credit for our success goes to the strength of our conference,'' Fisher emphasized.
As her club approaches the program's state tourney debut, Fisher related, ``I'm excited, but you hate to get too excited, yet. We're really gonna concentrate on doing the job, focusing on the first playoff game Greenville has ever been in. You try not to get too excited, because you don't want to lose focus. ... There's still work to do and the work-ethic is there. They're not ready to end the season, and they're not thinking this is party time and time to relax; they really want to do well.
``It's been a great year,'' Fisher acknowledged. ``We've tied the school record for wins in a season and, hopefully, we can break that in this first state game. It's gonna be tough, but it's within our grasp. We just want to go as far and do as well as we can, representing not only Greenville, but the MCAC, to the best of our ability.
``We're very fortunate they have lived up to their potential,'' Fisher said, concluding, ``They certainly would not have been satisfied without winning the MCAC, and they're looking forward to playing well in the state tournament. Hopefully, they'll continue to rise to the occasion.
``I'm expecting some great intensity in the (state) tournament and, win or lose, I know they're gonna play really good basketball. You don't get a team like this very often, so we're trying to make the most of it.''
