With the return of high school basketball, players and coaches are excited to see what’s in store as the season gets underway.
Hopes are high across the area as many local girls teams already have games under their belts.
Entering the season as back-to-back Midstate Athletic Conference champions, the goal is clear for Unatego and coach Bob Zeh.
“Our first goal is to win our division and obviously we’d like to win the MAC championship where we’ve won the last two,” Zeh said. “We’d like to be able to three-peat if we can. We’re looking forward to that.”
Meanwhile, in Cooperstown, the Hawkeyes are looking to build off a sectional title and a trip the the state regionals where they were defeated by Union Springs 60-47.
“I think the kids really want to try to get back to repeat winning the section, which I think is a possibility for sure,” Cooperstown coach Mike Niles said of his team. “The same as winning our division. With the realignment in the state, it kind of jumbled up our division so we have some teams that we played division games last year that are now class B and we have some teams that were larger D’s that are now C, so were kind of recalibrating the lay of the land a little bit.”
Worcester is also focused on making a run come playoff time.
“I’d say our team’s goal every year is to maximize what our potential is,” Worcester coach Chris Kaltenbach said of his team. “Each year, each player is unique. Each season is unique. We will probably play a slightly different style this year but I anticipate still by the end of the season being what I would consider a very solid basketball team, that we should be able to represent ourselves extremely well and definitely should be able to play in sectionals this year.”
While all three teams know that they would like to get out of this upcoming season, it won’t be easy for any of them, in part because they all graduated numerous talented players last year.
Unatego loses its leading scorer Kylie Mussaw and leading rebounder Maddie Wilsey. Cooperstown graduated five seniors, including All-State Third Team selection Dani Seamon. Worcester, meanwhile, graduated three seniors.
Cooperstown will be without one of the better players in the area in recent years in Seamon. The division MVP as well as MVP of the Section III Class C Tournament scored 550 points in her senior season, “one of the best individual seasons that I remember,” Niles said.
“I don’t think you would just replace that but I think we have the type of chemistry and the type of connection that we can potentially have the same type of success.”
Worcester is also looking to fill in several roles left by seniors last year.
“It’s kind of hard to replace the continuity initially but I think this group has done a nice job of trying to replicate that unity and that ball movement and that player movement on the floor together,” Kaltenbach said.
With all the graduated talent comes opportunity for more players to step up.
“We’ve got a nice returning cast coming back,” Zeh said. “I have three starters returning. Lizzie Craft, who was a first-team all-league player last year, Harly Birdsall and Bailey McCoy back. Those three started last year in almost every game.”
“Harly is only a freshman and she has really improved a lot over the offseason playing a lot of AAU so I expect those three to carry us but we’ve gotta get help from other players on our team as well,” he added.
Zeh also mentioned Madisyn Birdsall, Kaitlyn Henn and Gracie Tilt as players who could have an increased role.
Cooperstown also has some players Niles feels will be ready to step up.
“I think we’re going to depend a lot on Rory Nelen,” Niles said. “She was a Section III Class C tournament all-star last year and played a lot of minutes for us. Brenna Seamon is very versatile and an outstanding passer, great vision, very creative. Mia Kaltenbach was on exchange last year but she is back and with Mia, Tori France and Olivia Murdock we have a collection of very good defenders. The kids up from JV finished the season last year with just six kids so those kids came up with a lot of minutes and some versatility.”
“All eight kids are going to be able to contribute,” he added.
For Worcester, Hailey Shalor earned All-State Fifth Team honors and is coming up on a career milestone.
“Hailey is our strongest player,” Kaltenbach said. “She is returning just shy of 1,000 points so she should surpass that at some point this season, hopefully, which will be a great moment for Worcester to celebrate girls basketball. I think Faith Meiser has stepped forward this year as a senior and taken on a nice wing, guard role. I also think some of our post players, some girls that are kind of unknowns at this point, have an opportunity to stand out. I think Allison Boyle has an opportunity to have a nice senior season as well.”
Each team will have their work cut out for them as they take on some of the better teams in the area throughout the year.
In the MAC, Zeh sees Sidney, Delhi, Greene and Bainbridge-Guilford as tough outs in 2023-24.
Cooperstown has built a challenging schedule to test themselves all season on top of some tough league games.
“Hamilton is going to be tough, Niles said. “They moved up from D. They were in the sectional finals last year with everybody back basically. West Canada Valley had a 20-win season last year. Poland is in our crossover who won the section last year and then we have Unatego and Hamilton in our holiday tournament with Whitesboro. We have set ourselves quite a gauntlet here.”
Kaltenbach sees the Tri-Valley League being balanced this year, with Cherry Valley-Springfield, Richfield Springs and Schenevus bringing back good talent. He added that South Kortright figures to be a player in the Class D race as well.
Unatego, Cooperstown and Worcester each played their season-openers Wednesday, with Unatego defeating Windsor 40-23, Cooperstown falling to West Canada Valley 50-34 and Worcester defeating Hunter-Tannersville 43-35.
“I’m looking forward to this year,” Zeh said. “Every year is a new year with a new group. We’re looking forward to three-peating. We’d like to win three in a row.”
“There’s nothing more exciting than getting into a winter basketball season in my opinion,” Kaltenbach said. “Having a fresh set of eyes and a fresh set of ears on the court at all times getting back at it.”
Last year’s top teams in Class D will look quite different this year, as sectional finalists Oxford and Cherry Valley-Springfield each lost a First Team All-State selection.
Daily Star Player of the Year Madalyn Barrows led the Blackhawks to their first ever state final while Joleen Lusk was the key cog in a Patriots squad that went 22-2, eventually falling to Oxford in the Class D title game.
In addition to Craft, Nelen and Shalor, players who were Daily Star All-Stars in 2022-23 and are returning this year include Charlotte Valley’s Jessica Zuill, Delhi’s Natalie Vredenburgh, Franklin’s Shannon Kingsbury, Sidney’s Ava Cirigliano, South Kortright’s Addy Eckert and Stamford/Jefferson’s McKenna Hoyt.