Plenty of familiar faces were on hand to greet Our Lady of the Sacred Heart girls basketball coach Don Eckerle when he convened his first practice of the season.
Leah Parker and Lola Garner, starters on last season’s Chargers team that reached the PIAA Class 3A tournament semifinals before being eliminated, returned for their senior year.
And a trio of players who saw plenty of time on last year’s 25-5 squad – Shae Trombetta, Camryn Hummell and Rowan Winter – also are back for another go-around.
But OLSH is also missing a pair of players whom Eckerle was counting on to provide key minutes in Sara Daeschner and Anna Beth Grayson, both of whom are out with injuries.
The Chargers also will be without Claudia Ierullo, a four-year letter winner who earned all-state honors a year ago before graduating and moving on to Slippery Rock University. Also graduating from last year’s team were Libby Gallick and Emily Gallagher.
Daeschner, recovering from a knee injury she sustained in a game against Greensburg Central Catholic last season, is expected to return sometime in January. Grayson, injured during the summer, could return near the end of the season.
As for Ierullo, Eckerle said no one player will be able to fill her shoes.
“Claudia was our go-to player and our leading scorer,” Eckerle said of Ierullo, who averaged more than 16 points per game as a senior. “We have to replace her by committee and hope everyone else steps up.”
They’ll get their first opportunity to show what they can do at 7:30 p.m. Monday when Beaver Area visits OLSH’s Angela Activities Center.
Parker, a 5-foot-7 senior guard, and Garner, a 5-8 senior forward, were key members of last year’s team. They’ll be rejoined by the 5-11 Trombetta, the 5-4 Hummel and the 6-foot Winter.
Eckerle said Winter has shown great improvement over the past year.
“She has definitely grown into that forward position,” he said. “She’s our inside player, and we’re counting on her to really step in and help us move forward.”
Newcomers expected to contribute include seniors Alexa Schmitt and Ashlyn Johnson, sophomore Vivienne Goshen and freshmen Macie Trombetta and Jules Goshen.
Eckerle said his team will be challenged during a difficult nonsection portion of the schedule, which includes Lincoln Park, West Allegheny, Keystone Oaks and Quaker Valley.
“There are no gimmes in there,” Eckerle said of the schedule.
Overall, Eckerle said he feels “pretty good” about the state of the Chargers as their opener approaches.
“We’ll be a work in progress to get started,” he said. “But we’ll be in the hunt once section play starts.”
Eckerle, who has amassed more than 400 victories as he heads into his 23rd season as OLSH’s coach, said he’s not at all tiring of the grind of coaching.
“The coaching aspect itself keeps driving me,” he said. “As for the other logistic things, I could take or leave. But the actual coaching and interacting with players, I feel I’m still at my peak.”
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