When Mark Pompeo began coaching the Moon Area girls basketball team two years ago, he inherited a squad that had graduated seven players from the previous season.
That meant the Tigers were in a rebuilding mode. So Pompeo’s first Moon team took a few lumps, going 7-14, but only player graduated from that squad.
“We had a lot of players coming back for our second year,” Pompeo said of the 2023-24 edition of the Tigers, “and we concentrated on skills training.”
That work paid off for Moon, which went 14-9 overall and 4-6 in the WPIAL Class 5A Section 4. But the cyclical nature of high school sports means that seven players who contributed a lot to last season’s team have moved on. So for the new season that gets under way Friday, Dec. 6, with the Moon Girls Tipoff Tournament, “it’s almost like another rebuild,” Pompeo said.
But not quite. The Tigers, who open at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Canon-McMillan, might have only two seniors, but they’re returning three starters whom Pompeo characterized as “fantastic young ladies and players.”
Jayla Brown is the lone returning senior starter and she serves as the team’s vocal leader “and a support system behind all the players,” Pompeo said. “Defensively we count on her a lot. She has a solid all-around game.”
The other two returning starters are both juniors – point guard Jaedin Griggs and forward Maria Depner. The 5-foot-7 Griggs earned All-Section honors as a sophomore and has already scored 600 career points in her first two years.
“The sky’s the limit for Jaedin,” Pompeo said of Griggs, who averaged 18 points per game last season. “I feel she’s already an elite player. She loves the game and her potential is so high. If (colleges) aren’t taking a look at her, they should be.”
Pompeo also spoke highly of the 5-10 Depner, who also earned all-section honors. “She’s a workhorse,” he said. “We’re proud to have her on our team.”
In addition to focusing on the present, Pompeo said he’s excited to help establish a youth basketball program for girls in Moon “so young kids can find their love of basketball, so as they grow, they can maximize their potential.”
Pompeo grew up in the area – his father owned an Italian restaurant in the Moon/Coraopolis area – and he played plenty of basketball even into his adult years. But he didn’t get involved coaching until he was living in Phoenix. There, he formed his own 17U AAU team and enjoyed success at that level for 15 years. Coaching, Pompeo said, “drew that passion for the game back in me – the love of basketball I had growing up.” Pompeo parlayed his work at the AAU level into his opportunity to coach at Moon.
The Tigers will remain in Class 5A this season but will move from Section 4 to Section 3, where they’ll face the likes of Chartiers Valley, Mars, Montour, New Castle, South Fayette and West Allegheny. Gone are Lincoln Park and Trinity, which tied for the Section 4 title last year and went a combined 42-12 overall.
“Top to bottom that’s an extremely tough section,” Pompeo said. “There’s a lot of fantastic players and coaches. If you make it through a section like that, you’ll be battle tested. You’ll earn your stripes.”
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