Dec 1, 2017 By Adam Brewer for The 3 min read

The Mapletown girls’ basketball team will look to end its nine-year playoff drought this season with a veteran squad returning under first-year coach Steve McIntire.

McIntire, who coached at various levels of junior high and high school basketball throughout the area over the years, was an assistant coach on the Waynesburg Central boys’ basketball team last year.

“We are really excited about this year and the girls bring in some confidence with their play after last season,” McIntire said. “Our motto this year is ‘#WeCan.’ We have to believe in each other and believe that we can win games. We just have to play within ourselves and make it happen.

“We control our destiny. We are preaching relentlessness and giving maximum effort every time out.”

The Lady Maples finished last year with an overall record of 8-14 and went 3-7 in Section 2-A action.

One of the biggest wins for Mapletown was a 37-34 victory over second-place Geibel Catholic at home.

The last time Mapletown qualified for the postseason was in 2007-08, when it posted a 14-7 record and lost to Quigley in the first round of the Class A playoffs.

Prior to that season, the Lady Maples had only made the playoffs five times from 1997 to 2006.

“Making the playoffs is definitely one of our goals this season,” McIntire said. “We have a vision this year and we want to work towards those goals. This section is going to be tough and I think West Greene has to be the favorite. After them, you got five teams battling it out for three playoff spots.”

Section 2-A is comprised of Mapletown, West Greene, Geibel, Jefferson-Morgan, Avella and Monessen.

Mapletown will have 14 players on a roster that includes one senior and four returning starters.

Senior forward Taylor Vanata returns to the Lady Maples after missing her junior season.

Four juniors, center Kayla Smith, forward Kelsi Smith and guards Abby Antill and Hannah Dusenberry, will look to help solidify the offense this season.

“I really like our roster this year,” McIntire said. “We have 14 kids, so we can play some JV games and that will really aid our younger kids. Both of the Smith sisters are solid in the post, and we have a couple of quality shooters around them. We are hoping to have a good inside-outside game.”

Mapletown begins the year at the Avella Tip-off Tournament against Burgettstown on Dec. 8.

The Lady Maples open up section play at Geibel on Dec. 21 and will play in the Bentworth Christmas Tournament on Dec. 27-28.