Riddell, LH hoping for return to playoffs
The Laurel Highlands girls' basketball team practices on November 25.
Laurel Highlands head girls' basketball coach Kenny Riddell watches the team practice on November 25.
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Laurel Highlands head girls’ basketball coach Kenny Riddell runs rebound drills at practice on Nov. 25.
Laurel Highlands head girls' basketball coach Kenny Riddell passes the ball during a team practice on November 25.
The Laurel Highlands girls basketball team finished last season with an 8-14 overall record and out of the playoffs with a 5-9 Section 3-AAA mark, but coach Ken Riddell believes the team made strides in its return to Class AAA basketball.
LH lost three key players to graduation, but saw plenty of younger players gain valuable varsity experience that he hopes will pay dividends this season and beyond.
“We lost Taylor Large, Alexa Peton and Hannah Basinger and they are pretty big losses,” Riddell said. “We have spaces to fill, but the good thing is that last year, with only three seniors, we had a lot of underclassmen get a lot of experience and we have a lot of experience coming back this year.”
“We’re pretty confident,” he said. “We have … not a large senior group, but they have some experience.”
Leading the way for the Mustangs is senior Ashley Galderisi, a 5-10 guard who has played a lot of basketball at LH.
“Ashley has been playing since she was a sophomore and started some as a sophomore and played as a freshman,” Riddell said. “Other seniors we have are (5-10 forward) Sarah Proud, who is going to be very strong for us on the post and was one of our key starters last year. Abby McDonald (a 5-10 guard) is a swing person for us and we expect a lot of big things out of those two. They were very big leaders in the off-season. Our other senior, (5-8 forward) Melissa Bochnak, hasn’t had a lot of playing time, but she’s going to get it this year. We’re going to expect a lot from her.”
Riddell also hopes to get key minutes from a junior class that includes 5-6 guard Brooke Kusniar, 5-10 forward Ayanna Harris, 5-9 guard Mia Fuller and 5-7 guard Gianna Johns. Sophomores include 5-6 guard Kylie Miller and 5-8 guard Meg McDonald.
“Kylie Miller started a few games for us as a freshman last year, so she’ll be in the starting lineup for us,” Riddell said. “Meg McDonald is a sophomore who had some health issues that kept her from playing last year, but she’s back with us now. And we have some juniors we are going to be counting on. Mia Fuller is really athletic, she plays three sports; Gianna Johns got some experience for us last year and Ayanna Harris is another junior who really put in a lot of work and Brooke Kusniar is a natural shooter.”
As Riddell builds the LH girls program, the faces and names may change, but the basic make-up of the team remains the same.
“As far as post players go, we don’t have a lot of height, so we’re going to have to rely on speed and quickness,” Riddell said. “I think I told you this last year, too. Our tallest players are like 5-9, 5-10. So, we’re looking to run the floor, same as we have before. Our whole off-season program is dedicated to being faster and quicker in getting it up the floor. So that’s the same philosophy we’ll have moving forward.
“We’re going to have to force other teams to make mistakes and I’d like to make sure we get some points out of that,” Riddell said. “We don’t really have somebody to go to just to score. We do have a lot of athletes, though. Sometimes buckets are hard to come by for us, so I’d like to make the easy ones, get some easy points out of creating turnovers.”
The Section 3-AAA landscape has changed slightly, but it will still be quite challenging, according to Riddell. Section champ Indiana moved to Section 1-AAA, but back with the Mustangs are Mount Pleasant, Uniontown, Greensburg Salem, Southmoreland, Derry and Yough.
“Obviously, Mount Pleasant is up there,” Riddell said when asked for the team to beat. “Over the years they’ve been just such a great program. They are probably going to be the top dogs going into the season. But I wouldn’t be surprised if toward the end of the season, we’re right up there with them. We have high expectations because we have a lot of experience coming back at the varsity level.
“We’re looking to make the playoffs for sure. We expect to make it every year, but this year, especially, with the experience we have coming back, I thing we should make the playoffs. We have high expectations for ourselves this year. We’re looking to make the playoffs and make a little run.”
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