The Herald, Sharon, PA



GIRLS BASKETBALL
SEASON PREVIEW: WEST MIDDLESEX

2002-03 SCHEDULE
Nov. 29 -- Allegheny-Clarion Valley
Nov. 30 -- at Greenville
Dec. 3 -- at Jamestown
Dec. 5 -- Mercer
Dec. 11 -- at Shenango
Dec. 16 -- at Grove City
Dec. 19 -- Wilmington
Dec. 23 -- at Neshannock
Dec. 26-27 -- at West Forest tourney
Jan. 3 -- at Reynolds
Jan. 6 -- at Mercer
Jan. 9 -- Sharpsville
Jan. 10 -- at Wilmington
Jan. 13 -- at Allegheny-Clarion Valley
Jan. 16 -- Commodore Perry*
Jan. 21 -- at Conneaut Valley
Jan. 23 -- Kennedy Catholic*
Jan. 25 -- West Forest
Jan. 30 -- at Sharpsville
Feb. 3 -- Reynolds
Feb. 6 -- at Commodore Perry*
Feb. 10 -- Greenville
Feb. 13 -- at Kennedy Catholic.*
   #=MCAC-A contest
By The Herald Sports Staff

West Middlesex High girls second-year head coach Harold "Butch" Garrett is looking for his team to improve on last season's 4-20 campaign.

The team is fast, aggressive and has quite a bit of experience, so they could surpass last year's win total in a relatively short amount of time.

The Lady Reds will be led by seniors Jill Bowser and Geraldine Truog. Bowser is a 5-foot-8 guard and Truog is a 5-9 forward. Garrett admitted, "Jill really is our leader, our go-to girl. She has played the point and will move to 2-guard this year."

Katie Repko, Dina Macchia, Jessica McElhaney, Ashley Ruffo, Becky Krusey and Amanda Dunder also return this year to a West Middlesex squad that has nine lettermen. Repko, McElhaney and Ruffo are guards, while Macchia, Krusey and Dunder are forwards.

"Repko is the best athlete on the team," Garrett said. "She will really help and has a lot of potential. She just needs to play under control. McElhaney and Ruffo are sophomores and both of them played a lot last season. Dunder and Krusey are juniors and they also played quite a bit last year. Macchia returns from last season and she was in a lot of games, too."

One of the young players Garrett thinks will have an impact on the 2002-03 season for the Lady Reds is 5-7 guard Katie Bowser.

"She played quite a bit last year. She will play at forward and at the No. 2 guard spot. She's gonna be a good player."

Style-wise, the Lady Reds plan to attack the competition.

"We want to get after the ball," said Garrett. "We want to press and play an up-tempo type of game. We plan to push the ball up the court. We really are vastly improved from last year. The team has 10 or 12 girls that really are going after each other in practice and our practices are real competitive. We've put in a lot of hard work."

One of the advantages that the Lady Reds will have this year is team speed.

"The girls are really hustling in practice, working hard and you can really see the speed of the team," said Garrett. "I expect the girls to do a lot this year. We feel that we'll be much more competitive than we were last year. Another big advantage that we have is experience. We have nine lettermen coming back, and that's good."

One disadvantage that Garrett noted was his team's height. Macchia and Dunder are the tallest girls on the team at 5-10. The shortest girls on the team are Ruffo, Jessica Wojtalik and Nina Morocco at 5-4.

Garrett is hoping for big things this season and the Ms. Reds should improve on last year's 4-20 record.

"We just want to be competitive," confessed Garrett. "More competitive than last year. Our main goal is to at least be in every game and get the chance to win it in the end. We just want to be able to compete with the other teams in our league. But of course, I'm sure our competitors will be better this year, too."

Garrett's assistant coaches are Jack Womer and Todd Palmer. -- By Rob Malsom, Herald writer



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