Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
1. How good is West Chester Rustin?
The Golden Knights lost just one player from the PIAA semifinal team, Adashia Franklyn, who graduated and is currently
playing at St. Joseph’s. Rustin returns All Ches-Mont American first teamers Noelle Powell and Casey Warley along with Emily Walls, Annie Pitts and Katie O’Hare, all of which are seniors. The Golden Knights also have a new, but familiar coach this year in Colette Dugan, who takes over for the departed Leah Kim. Dugan last coached Rustin in the 2011-12 season.
With Franklyn, Dugan has the Golden Knights running an up-tempo offense, which will pay huge dividends as the season wears on.
“We’re working a lot harder to rebound and get all the fast breaks we had last year,” Powell said. “We have a really small team compared to other teams and we’re really going to try and push the ball on them. It’s definitely a run-andgun (offense). That should be one of the edges we have on our opponent.”
The sky is the limit in Westtown as Rustin was just two wins away from capturing state gold last season. This year, the Golden Knights have just one goal on their mind.
“We are definitely not settling for anything shorter than a state championship,” Powell said. “We remember how it felt losing in the state semifinals and are not doing that again. We’re trying to go all the way this year.”
Rustin has the talent and experience to accomplish that goal. This season could be a special one in Westtown.
2. The Ches-Mont National is very good
Downingtown East is the defending champions in the Ches-Mont National and return four starters, but will fight with four other teams for two spots in a extremely talented division. The biggest threats to unseat the Cougars are Bishop Shanahan and Downingtown West. Both teams posess two star players in Ciara Forde (Shanahan) and Maddie Dew (Downingtown West) along with a deep starting five that will challenge for the division crown.
Coatesville and West Chester East have the opportunity to play spoiler to the Downingtown party. Both teams could have growing pains with new head coaches, but possess talented players in Nafisa Saunders (Coatesville) and Holly Hager (W.C. East).
“It’s going to be a battle to get into the top two,” said Downingtown West head coach Dave Johnson. “(Downingtown) East and Bishop Shanahan are right there with us and Coatesville is dangerous.”
“The division has a handful of teams that will beat each other up,” said Bishop Shanahan head coach Fran Burbidge. “We’ll see who survives.”
Overall. there is no team to sleep on in this division. Every game will be a dogfight.
3. Welcome back, Bob Schnure
After a District 1 Class AAAA first round loss to Abington in February, Bob Schnure retired after 35 seasons as a head coach in the Downingtown school district.
The retirement didn’t last long.
Schnure returned to the Downingtown East bench in July and for good reason. The Cougars only lost one senior on last year’s squad and have plenty of talent returning, including All ChesMont National Division first teamer Paige Warfel.
“At my age, it’s a year-toyear basis on whether to return after each season,” Schnure said. “With a team full of juniors, there is an incentive to stay. But I really still enjoy coaching.”
With Schnure back on the court, the Cougars may have the upper edge in an extremely competitive ChesMont National Division.
4. Plenty of new coaches in the area
In addition to Schnure’s return, all three West Chester schools will have new coaches this season.
At Rustin, Colette Dugan has returned to coach the Golden Knights after two seasons away from the program.
“I’m really excited to be back,” Dugan said. “The kids are great and they all have high basketball IQ’s, which makes it easy for me as a coach. It’ll be easy and going to be a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Erin Listrani takes over at West Chester East while Greta Neff is coaching West Chester Henderson.
“I’m just excited to get started,” Listrani said, who served for 10 seasons as an assistant at East. “The program has really turned around over the last few seasons. There’s more excitement here. I’m just looking to build on that.”
Neff was an assistant at Downingtown West for 10 seasons under Dave Johnson. At Henderson, she will get the opportunity to rebuild a young Henderson squad.
“It’s a little bit more on my plate (being a head coach), but the kids have been great,” Neff said. “They’ve responded really well and they’re ready to work. It’s just a matter of being in charge now. Coaching is coaching.”
Fred Ellzy left Coatesville to take the Unionville job. Replacing Ellzy at Coatesville is a familiar face in Rick Nelms, who has won over 200 games coaching boys basketball, including winning 100-plus games with the Red Raiders’ boys hoops team.
Mark Pedersen takes over at Octorara to round out the Ches-Mont League coaching cycle, which has a total of six schools with new head coaches.
Conestoga has a new head coach this year as well. Chris Jeffries takes over for John Jones, who retired after 18 seasons.
5. Wide open second playoff spot open in