New coach taking KO into new waters

Tri-State Sports & News Service

Change is hard, but if done at the right time, can be rewarding.

Two years ago, the Keystone Oaks girls basketball team finished the season 4-18 and elected to make a change. The Golden Eagles hired Ron Muszynski as coach and now are on the verge of their first section title in school history. Muszynski is a former assistant at Keystone Oaks, as well as Seton-LaSalle and Baldwin.

“It would mean more for me to see the girls win the section,” Muszynski said. “It wouldn’t be a personal thing. That has been our goal since the beginning of the year and we are on the right track. Our team motto is “Us”. We want to hang a banner and be proud of it.”

The Golden Eagles inched closer to that goal Monday with a convincing 78-12 win against Yough.

Entering Thursday’s matchup at Elizabeth Forward, the Golden Eagles had a two-game lead over South Park with three section games to go with a 15-2 overall record and 11-0 mark in Class 4A Section 3.

The turnaround started last year with a playoff appearance, but could’ve been better if it weren’t for some tough losses.

“We lost four overtime games last year,” Muszynski said. “We should have had a better record. We played a lot of tough teams. It was a growing experience for them. We pushed them to show them they are as good as the top teams.”

Keystone Oaks has performed as one of the better defenses in the WPIAL, allowing only 38.2 points per game. A lot of it has to do with its depth, playing as many as 10 players per game.

“We focus on defense and rebounding,” Muszynski said. “We play a lot of straight up man-to-man and press. The girls respond to what we are teaching them. We are not the biggest team but they have a lot of heart and they compete. They have a pretty good attitude. They have the desire in their eyes.”

Leading the way is junior point guard Keagan Brownlee and sophomore Gillian Piccolino. Piccolino is the leading scorer and finished with a career-high 29 points against Derry earlier in the season.

Also making an impact are seniors Kristy Lippert, Maleyah Agurs, Molly Allward, Lauren McMillin, junior Olivia Stump, and sophomores Isabella Bogdan, Jaylen Hoffman and Linda Washburn.

“We definitely progressed more coming out of a tough section last year,” Piccolino said. “We have been focusing more on our defense. We have been working on our defense leading to offense.”

Muszynski also insists that without his assistant Ian Barrett, this team would not be where it is today.

“He is a very big part of it,” Muszynski said. “He is the brain behind the machine. He is my right-hand man. He has just as much input as I do. We are 1 and 1A.”