Bishop Canevin girls set sights on 3rd straight WPIAL title
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Saturday, December 2, 2017 | 2:06 AM
There's a new coach at the helm, and there will be some new players making bigger contributions, but the goal remains the same for the Bishop Canevin girls basketball team: win a WPIAL title.
Winning championships is something the Crusaders have done a lot of recently, capturing three WPIAL titles in the past five seasons — two were in the old Class AA, and last season's was in Class 3A. They also won states in 2013.
Scott Dibble is tasked with carrying on the team's winning ways. He was on former coach Tim Joyce's staff the past two seasons, so the transition was smooth.
Having three starters back also helped to ease the change. Returning are seniors Brionna Allen and Lauren Gamble and junior Shamyjah Price. Price led the Crusaders with 21 points in last season's WPIAL championship win over Neshannock, and Gilliann Gustine had 15.
“I just think it's our experience,” Dibble said when asked about the team's strength. “We're back-to-back WPIAL champs, which is nice, but we left feeling a little unfinished because we want to get back and win the whole thing.”
The Crusaders (23-6, 12-0 Section 3-3A) made it to the PIAA title game in March but lost to Neumann-Goretti, 62-56.
Besides the three starters, Bishop Canevin also returns two reserves who saw a lot of playing time last season: sophomore Diasha Allen and junior Gustine. Also back is senior Kasey Kaczorowski, who left the team in the middle of last season but returned this fall.
“We have tremendous team chemistry,” Dibble said. “They share the basketball well. We have a lot of speed and athleticism, but we're a little short on size.”
While the Crusaders might be small height-wise, the program has seen a growth spurt. Last season, Dibble said, they could not field a junior varsity squad, but there will be a full JV squad for the 2017-18 season.
And, Dibble said, three or four freshmen might help to fortify the varsity roster.
The one big change Dibble plans to implement is a shift in the team's defensive philosophy. He wants to branch out from the customary man-to-man approach and vary defensive looks.
“I'm a big proponent of mixing things up,” he said. “We were pretty much man-to-man 99 percent of the time last year. But I like to change things on the fly.
“If we can mix things up, I think it will be advantageous for us.”
The Crusaders' only losses last season were to larger schools, with the exception of a nonsection loss to perennial small-school power Vincentian Academy. In the WPIAL playoffs, they barely were challenged, winning their three games by an average of 26.3 points.
Dibble said, however, that he is taking nothing for granted. It's a new season with new challenges and a host of teams trying to knock the Crusaders from their perch.
“It's one game at a time,” he said. “An injury here and an injury there, and suddenly we're an average team. I don't like to look ahead.”
Chuck Curti is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at ccurti@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CCurti_Trib.
Tags: Bishop Canevin
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