Hurricane Sandy’s effects are still being felt weeks later, even beyond the wake of destruction that affected not just Bucks County, but the East Coast as a whole.
The women’s basketball program at Bucks knows there are things more important than basketball, such as having power, heat, water, shelter and food.
But trying to refocus attention to the season, now underway after a Nov. 10 loss to the CC of Philadelphia, will certainly be challenging.
Not only did the Lady Centurions lose valuable practice time, but their first game of the season versus Delaware was postponed due to Sandy.
In her second year coaching the girls’ squad, Lori Sullivan had this to say about the upcoming season:
“Obviously, we lost out on valuable time that would be spent with our players learning how to come together as a team. This is the first time [versus CC of Philadelphia] that they have all played together.”
Coach Sullivan only has one returning player, Nicole Nasta, with which to build a more solid foundation than last year.
Last year’s 2-8 record perhaps isn’t one for the record books, but Sullivan looks to improve upon that this year.
For keys to a successful 2012-2013 campaign, Sullivan stresses “hard work, playing the game to have fun, and learning to improve performances every time out.”
On a team that has only two girls over 5 feet 8 inches tall, the Lady Centurions may well depend on their quickness and outside shooting to win games.
Sabrina Ballendorf may step up as a good outside shooter, with Shannon Swift and Liz Lyman providing a bigger presence in the low post area.
Sullivan said “We need to depend on our speed up front, and get good defense from girls like Morgan [Gottel] to stay in games.”
The Lady Centurions look to gel more as a team, and to correct any early-season mistakes they made in their first game at CC of Philadelphia.
“We are definitely a talented team, we have a group of girls with a lot of basketball experience,” Sullivan said.
“I think we’ll be looking to girls like Regina [Karluah] to get us some second-chance points out there. She’s an amazing jumper, so we’ll look to her to grab rebounds and get better “hands” out there for more put-backs.”
Looking forward, the Lady Centurions will have a week between games, time likely spent in practice on fundamentals.