Lady Pioneers look to continue remarkable run
West Greene鈥檚 2020-21 girls basketball team will attempt to win a fifth straight section title and earn a fourth consecutive berth in the WPIAL Class A championship game. (Submitted photo)
Luke Campbell
West Greene鈥檚 Jersey Wise makes a cross-court pass during a Section 2-A game against Avella last season. Wise enters her senior season needing 251 points to reach 1,000 for her career.
West Greene has been one of the area鈥檚 premier girls basketball teams for the past four years and the Lady Pioneers鈥� remarkable run doesn鈥檛 look to end any time soon.
Coming off a pair of 22-win seasons, West Greene upped that school record in 2019-20 with an amazing 24-2 record. The Lady Pioneers went unbeaten in the regular season and pushed their winning streak to 24 before falling in the WPIAL Class A final for the third year in a row at the Petersen Events Center, then losing in the first round of the PIAA tournament.
A fourth straight run at the elusive district title is certainly within reach.
鈥淥ur top six from last year all return,鈥� West Greene coach Jordan Watson said. 鈥淭hat would be seniors Jersey Wise, Elizabeth Brudnock and Kaytlynn 鈥楾he Brick鈥� Walls, and juniors Anna Durbin, Katie Lampe and Brooke Barner.鈥�
The senior trio has put up record-breaking numbers.
鈥淭his year鈥檚 senior class has never lost a section game or a home game,鈥� Watson pointed out. 鈥淭hey have a total of 68 wins in three years. The class of 2019 had 79 wins in four years, so this group should pass that if we have a full season.鈥�
It鈥檚 just business as usual for the Lady Pioneers.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 even know if they even realize what great things they鈥檙e doing,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淚 told them when they were in seventh grade the Greene County record for wins was 21 by Jefferson-Morgan, and since then they鈥檝e never won fewer than 22 in a season. So they basically set the county record all three years.鈥�
West Greene goes much deeper than its top six as it looks to once again implement its vaunted 鈥淧ress Greene鈥� full-court pressure.
鈥淏reAnn Jackson, a junior, and Lexi Six, a sophomore, both got a lot of time this summer and they both got a lot better,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淐asey Meek is an up-and-coming freshman. She鈥檚 about 5-10, 5-11 and has a lot of potential. We expect her to get some playing time this year.
鈥淲e definitely plan on pressing a lot again. We have seven different presses we use with minor variations with each one. We try to keep throwing waves to keep teams off balance with it. We should be deep enough as far as being able to rotate bodies in that are fresh with 19 girls, which is the most we鈥檝e ever had. We run a lot in practice so we鈥檒l be in good shape and ready to go.鈥�
West Greene will again be in Section 2-A which remains the same except for California, which moved up in classification. The Lady Pioneers have won 45 consecutive section games. Their last section loss came on Feb. 2, 2016 at Jefferson-Morgan.
While so much success could make a team complacent, Watson doesn鈥檛 see that as a problem with his squad.
鈥淭ruthfully this year we have such a good senior class and this will be their last run at it so motivation is not a hard thing,鈥� he said. 鈥淎lso I think they realize you could be one day away from not having a season with COVID. A lot of them were playing sports in the spring and lost that season because of COVID. So I know they want to go as hard as they can while they鈥檙e here and be thankful for the opportunity.鈥�
West Greene will again feature a balanced scoring attack. The Lady Pioneers top scorers last year were Wise, Durbin and then Brudnock.
鈥淎nna and Elizabeth were close,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淲e look at it that on any given night we want those three to combine for 40 or more, however they do it doesn鈥檛 matter.鈥�
Wise scored 446 points last season, averaging 17.2, and enters her senior year with 749 points, while Brudnock is at 611.
鈥淚f Jersey does what she did last year she should get 251 easy for 1,000 if we get all our games in,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淚f we can make a deep playoff run, Elizabeth would have a shot at it, too.鈥�
Watson is entering his 15th season in the Lady Pioneers program and 10th as its head coach with a sparkling 139-78 record and eight playoff appearances. Watson鈥檚 good friend Justin Allen will be in his 13th year as an assistant coach at West Greene.
鈥淚t should be fun,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淲e expect another good year, if we can get the season in.鈥�