Lady Wildcats Coach Reviews 'Roller-Coaster' Season
Published 02.11.2002
After his team won its final game of the season to complete a 12-12 campaign, Pennsylvania College of Technology third-year women's basketball coach Jeff Chamberlin termed the campaign "a stepping stone" to the future.
In describing the roller-coaster season that saw his squad win four of its first six games, drop the next five in a row, and then bounce back to win eight of its final 13, Chamberlin said, "Overall, we had a pretty good season, considering everything we went through. It's pretty hard to come back after losing six players over the (semester) break. We lost three starters, and then to pick up five girls at the beginning of the semester and throw them right into the mix was really tough.
"It's just too bad I couldn't have had all the girls for the whole season. I think things could have been even better. . . . But I don't look like it as the end of our season, I look like it as the beginning of our season for next year because we have seven girls coming back and they're all outstanding players," the coach continued.
The one player who will be gone, however, is sophomore Jessica Weaver, the team's captain from North Clarion High who led the squad in scoring with a 17 points-per-game average and also averaged eight rebounds per outing.
"As a coach, you couldn't ask anything more from a player. Jess played everything from a point guard to center this year and that just tells you what kind of a player she is and what kind of athletic ability she is gifted with. Losing her is going to be huge, but I don't totally lose her because she's going to come on as a volunteer assistant coach next year," Chamberlin said.
Among the returnees will be freshmen Melissa McKee from Milton, who averaged 14 points per game; Amy Hufnagle from Selinsgrove, who averaged 11 points per outing after joining the team midway through the season; Lindsey Martin of Hughesville, who averaged just under 10 points after joining halfway through, along with Alicia Madeiros (Otto-Eldred), Kim Kremer (Mifflinburg), Charlee LaForme (Warrior Run) and Abbey Funk (Upper Dauphin) .
For the season, the Lady Wildcats averaged 63.5 points on offense, while allowing 55.6.