West Greene girls preview: Crouse expecting Lady Pioneers to be competitive
Austin Crouse learned a lot in his first season as the West Greene girls basketball coach.
Crouse, 22, is trying different things and new concepts with the Lady Pioneers in 2023-24.
“I learned a lot last year,” Crouse admitted. “I am teaching the girls some new things offensively and we are going to do some things differently this season. I think they will help us be a better team.”
Crouse thinks West Greene has a chance to be a good basketball team and should compete extremely well in Section 2-A with Avella, Geibel Catholic, Jefferson-Morgan, Mapletown and Monessen.
“We can compete and I expect we will compete,” Crouse said. “We graduated some good players but we had younger players emerge last season and we will rely on their continuing improvement and hope for the entire team to get better as the season goes along.”
West Greene posted a 12-10 overall mark in 2022-23 with an 8-2 record in section play. The Lady Pioneers saw their long section winning streak broken last season, losing to both Avella and Monessen, which won the section title.
West Greene lost its two WPIAL postseason games, dropping decisions to Union and Monessen.
“I kind of felt we did really well last year and the girls learned a brand-new offense. But, we came up shy of our goals and Monessen turned it on last year and are the team to beat this year,” said Crouse.
“We’ve been working a lot to see the court better. Not too many high school players have good court vision. I want the girls to hate losing, and come back from losses and be better the next game.”
West Greene’s roster includes senior guards Lexi Sixx and Taylor Karvan and forward Ally Campbell, junior forward Kasie Meek and center Brooke Miller, sophomore guard and center Marissa Tharp and Jazmine Scott, and freshmen Courtney Main (forward), Kendra Tharp (forward), and Eryka Hackney (guard).
We’re a lot younger than last year,” Crouse said. “Hopefully, we get together and work together and be as good as last year.
“Marissa Tharp is outstanding and is someone to watch. Brooke Miller at center is impressive. She’ll be a factor in the paint. As of now, I expect Marissa Tharp to step up a lot more and to make a big jump this year.”
Crouse said his authority as the coach is better understood by the players this season compared with last year.
“I’m seen more now as a coach than as a friend,” Crouse said. “I’m a lot rougher on them. Last season, I was kind of lenient on them
“I have a better game plan. Last year, I drew up plays on paper and they’d look good but didn’t work well. We’re trying to do better in areas we didn’t focus on last year.