Championship pedigree
FRANKLIN TWP. — Winning has become synonymous with Southern Columbia, and there’s a new team trying to get in on the act.
The team, girls basketball, is new to the scene, but the players aren’t. With 11 athletes having played on the state championship soccer team mere months ago, the trip to Hershey is starting to become, dare we say, routine.
Of those 11, three — Summer Tillett, Loren Gehret and Colby Bernhard — are probable starters in today’s state championship against Neshannock. Another four — Mackenzie Palacz, Brooke Charnosky, Cassidy Savitski and Tatum Klebon — have played this year and, depending on how the title bout goes, could contribute today.
None of them, though, are thinking about the past success with the current accomplishment.
“We all just like to focus on the now,” Tillett said. “It is amazing that we have another chance to hopefully bring home a second gold this year, but we know this opportunity isn’t like the one we had with soccer.”
Tillett knows that history is at stake — as unlike soccer and its back-to-back state titles and three overall — no basketball team has ever made it this far, much less brought home gold.
Gehret thinks that the camaraderie among teammates and coaches has only helped get the Tigers to Chocolatetown.
“This is all new to us when it comes to basketball, but we’re all so close as a team and our coaches are super easy to talk to,” Gehret said. “Playing junior high [under first-year coach Kami Traugh] together and the success we had there, it feels like we took the next step as a team.”
It also helps that the team has been seemingly less stressed this week than it was leading up to its third game of the year against rival Mount Carmel in the state semifinals.
“I feel there’s a lot of pressure on them to be successful because of the things they’ve accomplished,” Traugh said. “There were a lot of nerves going into the game against Mount Carmel because it’s local and the student sections were going to be filled, but once they start playing, they are fine.
“I would think there are less jitters now because they just have to play their game. There’s a little less pressure because win or lose, they’re done. They just need to enjoy the experience. For girls that haven’t played soccer, they’ve never experienced this. Even girls that played soccer, this is a different sport.”
Gehret agrees with Traugh, saying that no matter how much experience the team has in big games, nerves will always be there because it’s natural.
If the Tigers can keep them in check, expect big things. Three players — Alli Griscavage (16), Tillett (10.9) and Ava Novak (12.2) — average double figures scoring with Gehret (9.6) right behind. Griscavage (12.3 rebounds per game) and Tillett (11.1) average a double-double for the year.
Everyone is in agreement that with the Red Tornadoes behind them, they feel a lot more relaxed. That’s bad news for Neshannock. The Tigers, though, know they have to stick to what got them here in the first place.
“We just have to listen to one another and play as a team,” Gehret said. “We have threats all over the court. We need to use the right people at the right time and we’ll be OK.”
Spoken like someone who knows a thing or two about winning.
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