Loaded Lady Raiders have high expectations
Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Clara Paige Miller (33) drives to the basket against Frazier during a game last season. Miller returns to the Lady Raiders for her senior season. (Photo by Jim Downey)
Mark Marietta
Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Nina Sarra drives past East Allegheny鈥檚 Mikail Tarrant during a WPIAL Class 3A first round playoff game last season. Sarra returns to the Lady Raiders for her senior season.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Kaley Rohanna snaps a pass to teammate Josie Horne (20) during a game against Carmichaels last season. Both players return to the Lady Raiders for their sophomore seasons.
Waynesburg Central went from a last-place finish two years ago to being one of the area鈥檚 best girls basketball teams a season ago.
That doesn鈥檛 look to change much in the 2021-22 campaign as the Lady Raiders have a solid core returning.
Waynesburg jumped from records of 7-15 overall and 1-13 in Section 2-AAA to 13-6 and 9-2, coming within a one-point loss at South Park of claiming a share of first place. The Lady Raiders won a playoff game over East Allegheny before falling in overtime to Beaver Falls in the Class AAA quarterfinals.
鈥淭he year before we finished last in the section so last year I think we were flying under the radar,鈥� Waynesburg fifth-year coach Dave Sarra said. 鈥淲e ended up having a really good year.
鈥淣ow I think going into this year maybe there鈥檚 a little bit of a target on our back. Maybe last year some teams overlooked us. Now we know that鈥檚 not going to be the case again. So we鈥檝e got to be ready to play everyday and realize we鈥檙e going to get every team鈥檚 best effort.鈥�
Waynesburg lost just one player, Riley Morehead, to graduation.
Back are senior starters Clara Paige Miller, who is closing in on 1,000 points, Nina Sarra, the coach鈥檚 daughter, and Brenna Benke. Point guard Kaley Rohanna and forward Josie Horne were key players as freshman last year.
鈥淲e have some senior leadership and our two sophomores play a lot of basketball, traveling teams and that,鈥� coach Sarra said. 鈥淪o I think we have a good mix.
Miller and Rohanna were the team鈥檚 leading scorers last season.
鈥淎ctually Clara Paige, Kaley and Nina were all voted captains. They all lead in unique ways. Some are more vocal than others. They all lead by example in practice. They all bring something a little different in the leadership department.鈥�
Horne also brought an important component to the Lady Raiders.
鈥淛osie has provided some inside presence,鈥� Sarra said. 鈥淪he gives us some flexibility. Prior to that we had to rely on Clara Paige inside because we just didn鈥檛 have enough size. Clara Paige and Josey can both get out and shoot on the perimeter and they work together real well inside as well.鈥�
Waynesburg has a strong bench also.
鈥淲e have four main girls I can bring in depending on if we have to sub inside or outside,鈥� Sarra said. 鈥淓mily Bennett is a senior who will give us some depth off the bench inside. The other three are sophomores, Addison Blair, who can play inside or outside, and two more guards, Emma Kindervarter and Colleen Lemley.鈥�
Sarra expects to have more versatility defensively this season.
鈥淲e鈥檒l mix it up,鈥� Sarra said. 鈥淚n the past we have played a lot of zone. With the lineup we have now we can probably mix in a little more man this year. The flow of the game really dictates what we鈥檙e going to do. Are we in foul trouble? Do we have a lead? What鈥檚 working?
鈥淚 think the biggest thing for us is if we can stay out of foul trouble. Then we can flow through different defenses more easily rather than having to be a little more passive.鈥�
Waynesburg is looking to take another step up this year.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e always got to set goals,鈥� said Sarra, who is assisted by Natalie Blair and Toby Fancher. 鈥淭hey have to have something to shoot for. With how close we came last year, our goal is to win a section title. Another goal that the girls have is to advance at least one more round deeper in the playoffs.鈥�
Sarra is using the 39-36 overtime playoff loss to Beaver Falls as motivation.
鈥淲e point that out,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e were a couple possessions away, either offensively or defensively, from winning that game and getting to the semifinals. Those are things, certain situations, that we鈥檙e working on more this year in practice, pointing more of that stuff out in film. Because last year we had freshmen playing so we had to focus on different things in practice, installing different offenses and defenses.
鈥淣ow I think we鈥檙e more streamlined where we can get more specific in what we do.鈥�
Sarra is pleased in what he鈥檚 seeing from his players as they prepare for the upcoming season.
鈥淭hey have high expectations,鈥� Sarra said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 excitement. We鈥檝e just got to make sure we focus and try not to be too individualistic and be more the same as before.
鈥淲e have to play as a team again to achieve, and improve on, what we did last year.鈥�