Lady Trojans to lean on Miller, Vig after Huffman transfer
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Lady Trojans coach Chris Minerd and returning starters Jenna Miller (3) and Bailey Vig (12) will be seeking a third consecutive Section 3-A championship.
California's Jenna Miller
California's Destiny Gudel (center), Bailey Vig (right) and Jessie Conte practice a pass drill during practice.
Minerd
California's Bailey Vig plays defense on a play during practice.
California's Jenna Miller dribbles the ball down court during a practice game.
California Area High School's Jenna Miller.
California is coming off its best girls basketball season in the program’s history and was hoping to attain similar heights again in the 2015-16 campaign.
However, a lack of height, strangely enough, has suddenly become a problem for coach Chris Minerd’s squad, as in the departure of talented 6-foot-3 forward Kylie Huffman, who transferred to Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic after her sophomore season with the Lady Trojans.
Ironically, it was North Catholic that ended Huffman and California’s season last year in the second round of the PIAA playoffs, the same team that the Lady Trojans stunned in the WPIAL quarterfinals two years ago thanks in large part to a pair of late Huffman free throws.
“Obviously it’s very disappointing to lose a player the caliber of Kylie,” Minerd said. “We had a great run the last two years and we were looking forward to two more, but that road got a lot tougher now.
“Kylie was a huge part of our success the last two years. My question is how do you replace 6-3? She gave us something most teams don’t have, and that was one of our advantages the past couple of years in the section. Most teams don’t have a 6-footer. Not having Kylie kind of brings us back to the pack.
“No one is going to feel sorry for us, though. We have to forget the past and move forward. I like the attitude these girls have about them.”
Minerd especially likes a pair of impact starters he has back in junior point guard Jenna Miller and sophomore shooting guard Bailey Vig, both 5-6.
Both also played key roles in the Lady Trojans’ sparkling 25-3 season, which included a 22-game winning streak, a second straight sweep through Section 3-A, a second straight trip to the WPIAL quarterfinals and the program’s first ever PIAA victory.
Miller also was a starter two years ago when California went 19-5 and reached the WPIAL semifinals.
Minerd, who was the Herald-Standard Girls Coach of the Year last season, is ready to go to battle with that dynamic duo leading the way as his team seeks a third consecutive section championship.
“Jenna has been our point guard that past two years, but we’re looking to move her into a little different role this year to take advantage of her shooting ability,” Minerd said. “We want to get her more of an opportunity to score. Jenna is quick and a great defender. She just needs more confidence in herself that she can go out and lead the team. My biggest challenge with her is getting her to not be afraid to shoot more instead of always distributing the ball.”
Minerd isn’t worried about Vig shooting enough, but more in what way she puts up shots this season.
“Bailey had a great freshman season,” Minerd said. “She shot the ball well from the outside. But this year everybody knows about her and I’m sure teams are going to key on her. So we stressed to her in the offseason that she needs to change her game, to mix it up a little bit and be able to drive and get to the basket in addition to shoot from the outside.
“We want her to not be one dimensional, to be a more well-rounded player and I’m looking forward to see if she can bring that to our team this year.”
Minerd will be looking for more contributions from several other players this season, most notably 5-6 sophomore guard-forward Marissa Bitonti.
“We’re really counting on Bitonti to stay healthy, play a lot of minutes and be a big contributor this year,” Minerd said. “She’s been playing AAU basketball for a number of years. She has great basketball sense. We’re going to rely on her a lot this year.”
Dominique Gaston, a 5-7 junior forward, will likely move into a starting role.
“We’re looking for Dominique to take that next step, get some playing time and show what she can do,” Minerd said.
Ina Helmick, a 5-6 sophomore guard, could be the key to Miller getting a chance at being a bigger scorer this year.
“Ina got some opportunities to handle the ball last year as a freshman,” Minerd said. “We’re hoping she can play a bigger role in that area this year.”
Minerd is counting on 5-8 senior forward Destiny Gudel to have an impact, and is hoping for contributions from 5-8 senior Chyanne Wolpink, 5-6 sophomore Love’ Porter and 5-5 sophomore Grace Roberts.
As far as the section goes, Minerd sees Jefferson-Morgan, which was 20-4 last year with three of those losses coming to California, as the most formidable team.
“The section has a lot of teams that are young, like West Greene and Mapletown, who both have a nice group of kids coming up, but I think Jefferson-Morgan and Fort Cherry will be near the top,” Minerd said.
“Realistically, Jefferson-Morgan has to be the favorite because they didn’t lose anybody.”
Not that Minerd is counting his team out.
“It’s going to take a collective effort by all the girls on this team to attain our goals,” Minerd said.
“This team may be different than what we expected, but the goal remains the same.”
(See more photos with story on our website.)