The beat goes on for Lady Pioneers
West Greene girls basketball seniors are (from left) Brooke Barner, Jordan Karvan, Anna Durbin, Kiley Meek, Katie Lampe and BreAnn Jackson. (Submitted photo)
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
West Greene coach Jordan Watson gives his players instructions during a game against Jefferson-Morgan in January. Watson enters his 11th season as head coach of the Lady Pioneers with a 157-82 record, including an impressive 86-14 mark over the past four years.
The beat goes on for West Greene girls basketball.
The Lady Pioneers once again lost several key players to graduation, yet, once again, they are favored to claim a sixth consecutive Section 2-A title.
Gone are key seniors Elizabeth Brudnock, Kaytlynn Walls and 1,000-point scorer Jersey Wise from a team that went 18-4 and stretched its incredible steak of WPIAL Class A championship game appearances to four.
鈥淛ersey ended up with 1,083 points and is now starting at Garrett College,鈥� West Greene coach Jordan Watson pointed out.
Wise is not only starting for the Lakers but through six games was their leading scorer at 14.5 ppg as the team opened the season 5-1.
Losing a 1,000-point scorer to graduation is nothing new to Watson. He lost a whopping three after the 2019 season (Kaitlyn Rizor, McKenna Lampe and Madison Lampe) and the Lady Pioneers still went 24-2 the following year and again played for the district title.
West Greene went 18-4 overall and 10-0 in sweeping to another section last season. Though they鈥檝e fallen in each of the four WPIAL championship games they鈥檝e played in, don鈥檛 be surprised if the Lady Pioneers make their way to the Petersen Events Center again in the 2021-22 season.
Watson, who is assisted by good friend Justin Allen, has compiled an impressive record of 157-82 with nine straight playoff appearances as he enters his 11th year as West Greene鈥檚 head coach. Watson鈥檚 mark over the Lady Pioneers鈥� four-year run as WPIAL runner-up is an amazing 86-14. He鈥檚 been involved in the program for the past 16 years.
The Lady Pioneers are riding a trio of impressive multi-season streaks. They鈥檝e won 55 section games in a row, 40 straight home games and have reached the WPIAL final four for five consecutive years.
鈥淭his senior class has never lost a home game or a section game,鈥� Watson pointed out.
It鈥檚 also never not played for a district crown.
That senior class includes returning starters Brooke Barner, Anna Durbin and Katie Lampe as well as BreAnn Jackson, Kiley Meek and Jordan Karvan.
Only five of the group will see action, however.
鈥淭aylor has a torn ACL and is out for the season,鈥� Watson said.
West Greene is deep as usual.
鈥淲e have a solid rotation of about eight or nine girls,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淎nna will be the point guard, Katie is a shooting guard and Brooke is a forward.
鈥淟exi Six (junior) and Kasie Meek (sophomore) will also start some games and play a lot. Depending on the lineup we go with that night, freshman Madi Gaso, junior Ally Campbell and Kiley Meek and BreAnn Jackson will also start some games and all of them will see a lot of minutes.鈥�
Watson has yet another player with a chance to reach the 1,000 mark.
鈥淎nna Durbin may hit 1,000 points this year if we have a normal year and she is healthy,鈥� said Watson, who talked about his team鈥檚 outlook.
鈥淚 think we have a good shot at winning the section again. But Monessen will be good again, Avella is usually a pretty good team, Mapletown is improving, so there will be some challenges.鈥�
As for that possible fifth straight WPIAL final appearance, Jordan said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the goal, to get to the Pete again. I don鈥檛 know if we can do it but that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e shooting for.鈥�