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Team effort needed for East lady cagers If there's one common theme for this year's Williamsville East girls basketball team, it's that everyone will get a chance to contribute. "They're all so closely matched in skill and ability," said East coach Chris Durr. "I don't see a huge difference between the starters or the kids on the bench but that could change in the next couple of weeks. Everyone is going to contribute in one way, whether it's on defense, scoring or hustling for basketballs." Durr needs to replace 23 points (team averaged 46 points) from its five departed seniors, including 11 points from center Kaitlin Roseti. Roseti, an All-ECIC Second Team pick, also averaged six rebounds and two blocks per game. She finished her career at East fifth all-time in points with 681. Other seniors who graduated were guards Molly Bojanek (6.8 points, led the team in free throw percentage, 76 percent) and Christa Morgante (4.3 points, led the team with 12 three-pointers), who were ECIC Division II First and Second Team selections, respectively and Meghan Scheidemann and Pooja Bakhai. "As much as the points, we lost a lot of experience," said Durr. They also lost a lot of size inside with Roseti (6-foot-1) and Scheidemann (5-foot-11), leaving Durr without a dominant presence in the middle for the first time in his 13 years coaching at East. "I'm not sure if it will be a problem in the league because there's not a lot of height on any of the teams," said Durr. "But this year, we're going to have to commit to boxing out on defense. Our forwards are small but quick and fast and shoot well from the outside so that can be an advantage for us. If we can rebound the ball, we can do OK on the offensive end because the kids are pretty versatile." The tallest player on the Lady Flames is 5-foot-10 senior forward Anna Stolzenburg, who will start. Durr does return senior point guard Bridget Steele and senior shooting guard Jessica Kowalski. Both are team captains and returning starters. Steele led East last year in assists (67, 2.8 average), steals (53, 2.2 average) and field goal percentage (53 percent, 41 of 77). She was also third in scoring (111 points, 4.6 average). Steele, a returning ECIC II First Team all-star, has started since she was a sophomore. She earned the team's All Hustle award. "She's the true essence of a point guard," said Durr. "She likes to get others involved which is sometimes a detriment because she's looking to pass instead of shooting. We need her to score more than she has in the past." Durr said he also will need more production on offense from Kowalski. She averaged only 2.8 points last year. Six other returning players are back from last year's team. They are, besides Stolzenburg, senior Courtney Hawkins (5-foot-7 guard), Ally Kotz (5-foot-3 guard), Aleece Burgio (5-foot-9 forward) and juniors Neha Bakhai (5-foot-8 guard/forward) and Taylor Klun (5-foot-9 forward). Hawkins is coming off an anterior cruciate ligament she suffered in the first round of last year's sectionals. Klun and Bakhai will start. Juniors Sarah Dipofi(5-foot-3 guard) and Kristin Ostanski (5-foot-7 guard) and sophomore Becca Rumschik (5-foot-7 guard) and Jordan Kowalski (5-foot-8 forward/ guard) move up from JV. Durr said his team will use its quickness and ability to press on defense to have success this season. Durr sees his team, along with Hamburg and Iroquois, in the mix for the ECIC Division II title. East finished second in ECIC II last year at 10-2.
The Lady Flames finished 19-5 overall last year and lost to Kenmore East in the Section VI Class A-1 finals. |
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