Future is Bright for Pam Coppola's Red Devils

The following questions were answered by Pam Coppola, the Burlington High School girls basketball coach. The third year head coach led the Red Devils to the postseason where they earned a first round win and hung with unbeaten Reading in the quarterfinal round before they were eliminated.

How much will the playoff experience help your players in the future?

To have young kids around, whether they’re on the bench or in the stands watching it, you get a taste for that energy. Our environment for our home game was unbelievable. And those are the games that you live for. Once you have a taste of that, you want it more and more. I think we have kids who have that fight in them, and now they believe in each other with that ability to stay with it. I think we’ll see a nice change in the future.

How much growth did you see from the beginning to end of the season? 

Huge growth. The biggest thing was them learning to rely on each other and play as a team. You’re going to have a top defender, you’re going to have a top scorer. But teams are what are going to win championships. That’s was the biggest thing was for them to be able to turn to each other and pull each other up and say ‘Hey, I have your back. Let’s go.’ That was the biggest change for me. Instead of getting angry when they get fouled or missed a shot, they were doing something about it on the floor.

What is the outlook for next year's team?

We’re going to be a totally different team next year. We were really reliant on our front court this year and last year. That’ll change completely. Next year we’re going to rely on our backcourt and guard play, our outside shooting and our ability to get to the basket. So we’re going to be a totally different team next year, but I would expect the intensity and focus to be the same.

What can your team learn from playing undefeated Reading close into the second half? 

It makes the difference going into the offseason. Instead of dreaming about something, you’ve been there. And you know don’t want to lose that. Our returners are going to make sure the next group of girls coming in put the work in during the offseason and are ready. I don’t think they’re going to be satisfied with just having a varsity spot. They really want to win and that’s a huge change with the program this year.

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