Harriton's Girls Hoops Made A Big Turnaround This Season

Carla Coleman wanted an emphatic mantra drilled into her players at the start of this season. The coach endured two horrid years the initial two seasons the Rams were in the Central League, going a combined 3-41 overall. Those were years tinged by embarrassment, frustration, and adjustment, as the smallest school in Central League.
 
This year was the breakthrough Coleman had wanted—buoyed by two special freshmen, and a team that embraced Coleman’s message of a changing culture. It did change. Going 8-14 overall may not show in gleaming bright lights, but in winning eight games this season the Rams almost tripled their victory total of the previous two years combined, they captured their first Central League victory, and won their first league away game. And next Wednesday, the Lady Rams will be playing in the District 1 Class AAA playoffs, visiting Upper Merion at 5:30 p.m.
 
It’s a light-years trip from where they were to where they currently are. The bumpy ride has also been filled with poignant emotional moments, like when on January 7, the Lady Rams handed Marple Newtown a 44-35 setback, giving Harriton its first league victory in three years. The victory rippled through the Rams’ bench with a feeling they never experienced—and it gripped them.
 
Just as the play of 5-foot-9 freshman point guard Katie Melvin and 5-foot-8 freshman shooting guard Sabrina Tabasso has carried the Rams. Seeing the two best friends together, you can get a sense something good is brewing for the future. This year was the first step, and the freshman pair saw palpable evidence of that the night they beat Marple Newtown.
 
“It was kind of special,” Melvin said. “I remember seeing some of the juniors crying, and giving Coach Coleman a big hug. Sabrina and me really wanted to come and help out the upper classmen. We heard all these things about Harriton, how the program is horrible and how we shouldn’t come here. I think I can speak for both of us that we’re happy that we did. We had a good year—and I still think we can play better.”
 
Senior Betsy Hurtado, a 5-foot-9 center, endured the two-year strain of losing. She credits Coleman for keeping the team—and the program—together when it wasn’t that easy.

“Coach Coleman made it a different dynamic,” Hurtado said. “Yes, losing was tough, but she kept it more about family, and how we had to stick together. It didn’t make it so bad. Then Katie and Sabrina came along, and things changed.”
 
Tabasso wanted to focus on defense, and be as supportive as possible to the upper classmen. She came in knowing about the Harriton program, but had no point of reference in going 1-21.

“That’s why as freshmen me and Katie came in here wanting to make a difference, and looking to help the juniors and seniors,” Tabasso said. “We wanted to turn this around and felt we could.”
 
So did Coleman, who calls Melvin and Tabasso two of the most remarkable all-around athletes she’s been around in nine years at Harriton High School.
 
“Katie and Sabrina took a chance coming here, they wanted to be with their friends, and saw something to build here,” Coleman said. “This is a good first step. These girls have a lot to be proud of. But first, we all had to get the losing out of our system. I’ve been telling the girls that since the beginning of the season. We spoke about setting standards and holding each other accountable. I think with Katie and Sabrina, this is just the start.”