Brentwood girls look to maintain success

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, December 8, 2017 | 11:00 PM

Brentwood coach Rachel Thomas summed up the 2017-18 girls basketball team in four words.

“This year's team is young, eager, determined and competitive,” Thomas said.

“These girls have been working very hard this preseason. We have seen some great play in early scrimmages. Although we lost a lot in (terms of) leadership with last year's seniors, this team is determined to continue to be competitive and reach our team goals.”

Brentwood has advanced to the WPIAL playoffs for four consecutive seasons. The Spartans were WPIAL quarterfinalists in Class 2A last year, finishing with a 17-6 record.

There are eight returning letter winners on the 2017-18 squad, including three returning starters in Morgan Dryburgh, Brittany Stewart and Natalie Murrio.

The 5-foot-10 Dryburgh, who has a 4.3 grade-point average, recently competed in the World Finals for F1 in Schools in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia, as a member of the Brentwood Interstellar M1 racing team.

Dryburgh is a three-sport athlete who plans to pursue a mechanical engineering major in college.

“The team is looking really good,” she said. “We are working very hard in practice to prepare for our season. All the girls on the team are very close with each other, and I expect that we will go far in our season. We have the potential to win our section and go even further.”

Other returning letter winners for the Spartans consist of Marie Stofesky, Brooke McQuillen, Anna Betz, Rebecca Dirling and Abby Wolf.

Dryburgh and Stofesky are senior forwards; Stewart and Taylor Kotler are senior guards.

Murrio, currently out of the lineup because of an injury, Betz, McQuillen, Dirling and Wolf are junior guards; Sydney Gilchrist is a junior forward.

“During this preseason, we have worked on fundamentals and implementing new offensive sets,” Thomas said. “Unfortunately, we've made adjustments in our lineup because of Natalie's injury. We expect her to return in the middle of December.

“Adversity is not new to this team, and the younger players are ready to make a difference on the court.”

There are two sophomores — Maddie Travis and Jayden Schwartz, both guard/forwards — and two freshmen — forward Paige Miller and guard Bea Cook — on this year's team.

Brentwood secured second place in Section 2 with an 11-3 record last season behind Vincentian Academy (14-0). Leechburg (10-4) and Sto-Rox (9-5) ended up third and fourth.

Vincentian Academy advanced to the WPIAL finals and PIAA second round a year ago. Leechburg also was a WPIAL and PIAA playoff qualifier.

Thomas ranked Vincentian Academy, Leechburg and Brentwood as top contenders in the section again this year.

“I expect to have a very successful season,” she said. “These girls continue to work hard every day, bringing high energy and determination to practice daily.”

Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.

Tags: Brentwood