Ãå±±½ûµØ

Dec 18, 2023 By John Sacco 3 min read

Everyone is pulling in the same direction for the Waynesburg Central girls basketball team in 2023-24.

The Lady Raiders are experienced, talented and motivated.

Coach Chris Minerd has produced winning teams throughout his coaching career, and his body of work suggests this could be a big season for Waynesburg.

Everything points to success and a legitimate chance at another section title.

“This is the year for five seniors and we’re relying on that experience,’ said Minerd. “Four of them are going to start and I’m hoping to get the fifth one some starting time.

“Because we have a lot of experience, many returning players, we have high expectations.”

Waynesburg features senior guard Kaley Rohana (5-5). Other Lady Raiders expected to play huge roles are seniors Emma Kindervater (5-4, guard), Taylor Sibert (5-7, forward), Josie Horne (5-9, forward/center), and Addison Blair (5-10, forward/guard).

The rest of the Waynesburg roster includes sophomores Allie Midla (5-9), Keira Kennedy (5-5), Madison Loughner (5-5), Olivia Mills (5-8/0 and Peyton Cowell (5-10), and junior forward Mya Smith (5-8), guard-forward Briena Coon (5-7), and guard Avery Davis (5-7), also juniors.

“Kaley Rohana is chasing being the all-time leading scorer for girls basketball,” Minerd said. “She’s a big part of the offense and player of the year for three years. We’re going to need that type of performance again if we want to win the section by ourselves.

“It’s hard for us at times because we’re not tall. Our weakness sometimes is when we play against big (tall) teams.

“Josie is able to play inside and out. Last year, she grabbed eight to 10 rebounds a game and eight to 10 points a game. We hope to get her scoring a little more this season. Addison Blair is more of a shooting guard. She started strong, developed an illness two weeks before the end season and couldn’t finish the regular season. She’s back to 100 percent and we’re looking forward to seeing what her contribution will be.”

Waynesburg will compete with Brownsville, Charleroi, McGuffey, South Park and Yough in Section 4-AAA.

“We’re in a competitive section, we expect it to be competitive the whole season long,” Minerd said.

The coach also had a plan to be in better physical condition and do some things different this season.

“We sent all our girls from May to now to basically work with a personal trainer. We can’t get taller, but we can get stronger and faster. We’re also trying to do some things better. People know what we do. We’re adding some new wrinkles and new looks. We played summer league in West Virginia,” said Minerd, adding, “We hope it all serves us well.”