Youthful Lady Cougars seek playoff berth
Bill Wagner had one of the younger teams in the history of the Charleroi girls basketball program a year ago.
The fourth-year coach has another young team entering the 2021-22 season without a senior on the roster.
Even so, the fourth-year coach still has the same goals he sets forth each season.
“Our goals are to be competitive in every game and make the playoffs,” he said. “Keys for us to do this will be good defense and getting points out of our transition game.”
Wagner and his staff will rely on a trio of second-year starters — junior Leena Henderson and sophomores McKenna DeUnger and Riley Jones — if the Lady Cougars are going to return to the playoffs.聽
“Those three are our best players because of their scoring abilities and good defense,” Wagner said. “Other than them, we have five players competing for the other two starting spots.”
They include juniors Rece Eddy, Morgan Snyder and Deni Wagner and sophomores Ella Sypolt and Camryn Musser.
Wagner said four other players will see playing time, including sophomore Zoe Duhon and freshmen Avery Pendo, Emma Skobel and Lilli Lee.
Charleroi is playing in Section 2-AAA with Bentworth, Brownsville, McGuffey, South Park, Washington and Waynesburg Central.
“Waynesburg and South Park are the top teams in the section,” Wagner said.
The Lady Cougars open the season in the Laurel Highlands Tip-Off Tournament.