Dec 15, 2024 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

Albert Gallatin girls basketball coach Craig Hoone entered this season with good news and bad news.

The bad news is a roster that only has eight players.

The good news is two of them are senior four-year starters Mya Glisan and Grayce Panos.

“We only have eight players, total, so we’re going to use them all,” Hoone said. “We do have three senior starters in Grayce and Mya and also Mitchell Turner. Mikayla Shea is a junior starter.

“From there it’s a battle between freshmen and sophomores to get that last starting spot.”

The Lady Colonials were 5-16 overall and 2-10 in Section 3-AAAAA a year ago They’ve moved over to Section 5-AAAAA this season where the schedule will be no less difficult as AG will compete with Thomas Jefferson, Peters Township, Trinity, Baldwin, Bethel Park and Uniontown.

“There are three teams in there that dropped down from 6A to 5A (Peters Township, Bethel Park and Baldwin),” Hoone pointed out.”But we were in a killer section last year so we’re used to it as far as playing against tough competition. As a team we have to stick together, especially with the low numbers that we have. We really don’t have much of a choice. We just have to stay together and keep plugging along.

“Thomas Jefferson has a couple key players who moved back and I know they’re going to be very strong. Peters Township had a remarkable season last year although I’m not sure what they have coming back.”

Hoone, who is in his fourth year at AG, does have Glisan and Panos to rely on.

“Mya is our captain. She was a captain as a junior, which is something I’d never done before,” Hoone said. “She’s our team leader. Not only does she help on the floor, she helps off the floor with motivation. We’re using her as a hybrid sort of how we did last year, outside playing guard or inside playing forward. She’s like a jack of all trades.

“Grayce will play all three guard positions for us. She’s our No. 1 lockdown defender. The opponent’s point guard or best ball handler, that’s who Grayce is guarding. She’s been like that ever since she was a freshman. We rely on her defensively but we also rely on her shooting ability. She’s a very good outside shooter and she can penetrate and shoot the short jump shot as well.”

Turner will be AG’s main inside presence and Shea runs the offense.

“Mitchell is a defensive specialist and rebounder,” Hoone said. “She plays in the post. We rely on her for the physical aspects of her game. Mikayla is our point guard who provides outside shooting and penetration and handles pressure well.”

Also on the roster are sophomores Maggie Quertinmont and Alexis Riggleman and freshmen Paiton Lovis and Ellie Seese.

“Maggie is a returning player who will be depending on for a lot of minutes this year,” Hoone said. “Alexis Riggleman is a sophomore who’s inexperienced but she’ll see some time on the floor as well.”

Seese made her presence felt in the Lady Colonials’ season-opening win at Connellsville, scoring two late baskets to break a 33-33 tie and help propel AG to victory.

“Ellie is a freshman guard/forward who started in our opener against Connellsville but she’ll be coming off the bench some, too,” Hoone said. “I coached her in middle school last year and we knew she was going to be an impact player and she proved that already in her first game.

“Paiton Lovis plays the two guard positions and started against Connellsville. She provides shooting and ball handling.”

Hoone has been forced to alter his offensive approach due to his roster size.

“Offensively, we usually love to run,” Hoone said. “We like to push the ball down the floor and get a quick shot. But now it’s more walk the ball up the floor, slow down the game a little bit because of the low numbers.

“However, it won’t change the way we play defense. We’ll still play man to man the entire game.”

Hoone is assisted by Sydney Phillips.