Coaches Time Out

We're about halfway through the season now in winter sports and there's much to talk about. The girls basketball team has only two losses all season; wrestling only has one. Boys basketball, with a tough non-league schedule, has gone on a four-game winning streak to propel itself over .500.

The winter coaches took a midweek break to chat with Patch about all the happenings this week.

Boys Basketball Back Above .500, McDowell Breaks 1988-89 Record

After a 75-40 performance in Tuesday night's Phoenixville game, the Rams are back above .500, with a 7-6 record. They're 6-1 overall in the PAC-10. In the game, Rams junior center Zameer McDowell - one that has existed for over 20 years.

With 44 points in the game, McDowell broke Greg Vuotta's 1988-89 single game scoring record. McDowell also had 18 rebounds in the game.

"First of all it was a great overall team win," said head coach Mike Young. "Phoenixville played hard. We were definitely getting the ball inside to Zameer, because we thought we could exploit their interior defense. Everyone was sharing the ball really well, passing it around, all the guys were looking for Zameer inside and he was making nice moves. It was a great individual accomplishment for him.

"Probably a once in a lifetime opportunity where you can break that record. We wanted to give him the chance to do that and we got the ball to him an extra few times. All the guys were really happy for him, because they contributed to it by passing him the ball and getting him open."

Last week, the Rams put up wins to both Pottsgrove and Upper Perkiomen, 64-42 and 66-28 respectively. Young said the Pottsgrove victory was a huge win for the program.

"We were both coming in as second place teams in our respective divisions," he said. "Their team has been playing really well. Both teams were expected to come out and have real big games. It was a confidence booster for us."

For the rest of the week, the Rams go along with the 2011-12 team theme: tough non-league matchups. On Thursday night (game of the week alert), the Rams hit the road to face a tough Abington team, and then play North Penn on Saturday. The strategy, in Young's opinion, has been a successful one.

"We had a meeting before tonight’s game, kind of a mid-season meeting," Young said. "We talked about it. We went through a lot of adversity. Guys coming from other sports, trying to find their basketball legs. We played an unbelievably tough schedule. We were 3-6 at one point and things weren’t looking that great. We were able to come together as a team, get four straight wins and come above .500. That’s important. We’ve said all along, the non-league games has pumped us up for league games and so far that strategy has panned out."

Girls Basketball Continues Dominance

The girls basketball team also saw success against Phoenixville on Tuesday night. They posted up a 63-31 victory. That gave them their 10th win of the season.

Scoring stars for the game were Mariah Traywick with 20 and Courtney Hinnant and Sammy Stipa with 12 a piece, although head coach Jeff Rinehimer said the girls struggled at first on offense.

"It was a tough shooting night for us, but they kept the defensive intensity up," Rinehimer said. "That really carried through for us."

The girls also defeated Pottsgrove and Upper Perkiomen last week. They defeated Pottsgrove 65-13, and Upper Perkiomen 67-22.

"We had a good start and just carried it through in those games," said Rinehimer. "We kept the intensity up. Pottsgrove played really good defense and kept us on our toes. Upper Perk has an all-league player in [Stacey] Auckland and we had a hot start, but really had to buckle down to win that one."

The Lady Rams head on to play a hard Mount St. Joe's team this weekend. At the halfway point, Rinehimer and the coaching staff is happy with the Lady Rams' performance.

"What’s nice is they come every day to practice and works hard," Rinehimer said. "That makes it enjoyable to come to practice. We tell them to keep improving, especially the defense. We always tell them to play each one like its their last one. Now, we’ve got some tough non-league games coming up with Mt. St. Joe’s and Upper Dublin. It will really test us out to see where we’re at."

Wrestling Repeats as Runner Up at Canner Duals

Wrestling went 4-1 at Saturday's Canner Duals, losing only to Biglerville in the final round. Those results repeat last year's performance. The Rams were hoping to get revenge, but still came out feeling good about themselves.

"It was a long day," said head coach Tim Seislove. "The kids wrestled five matches. We wrestled Biglerville last for the team championship. We had a couple of close matches but things didn’t quite go our way. I was pretty happy with the way the kids wrestled for the whole day."

Biglerville only won the contest by 10 points. Winners against Biglerville included Sean Hennessey (120), Cody Brown (138), Tyler McGuigan (170), Mason Romano (195) and Glenn Grosshanten (220). McGuigan was the only Ram to go 5-0 on the day.

This week, the Rams face off against two PAC-10 rivals in Pottstown and Pottsgrove. Although both teams only have one or two wins a piece, Seislove is not looking past them.

"Pottstown’s coach does a good job," he said. "He’s got the kids out. I don’t think they have a full lineup, but the kids they have are pretty tough."

One big indicator of possible success for a team like Pottsgrove is the fact that their football players are finally getting adjusted to the wrestling season. Seislove and the Rams share that feeling at this point in the season.

"We do have quite a few kids that play football," he concluded. "It’s not an easy transition. They get done on Thanksgiving, we give them a couple of days off, and then they’re ready to go. It takes about two or three weeks and right around Christmas time, the football players look a little more like wrestlers and less like football players."

Swimming

Swimming had no comment this week

O'Such, Magalon Head to Millrose Trials

Winter Track head coach Danielle Stauffer reported she and seniors Joe O'Such and Jesse Magalon are heading up to New York tonight for the Millrose Trials. The boys will try to compete in the mile later in the season.

The kids have had a busy week, practicing and competing. On Saturday, they participated in the Golden Bear Invitational at Kutztown University. Here are some highlights:

• Ryan Pierson jumped 12'6" on Saturday in the pole vault. That was his personal best.
• Kirsten Wong placed third and Mikayla Francis placed fourth in the long jump. They were separated by only one-half of an inch.
• Mikaila White placed in both the 55 dash and 55 hurdles.

On Monday, they went to the Chester County Championships at Ursinus College. Here are the highlights:

• Joe O’Such won the 800-meter in a state qualifying time.
• Jesse Magolon was third in that same 800, just missing the state qualifying time.
• Xavier Ingram won the triple jump – only the second time he’s jumped over 40-feet ever.
• Nick Ondo placed fifth in the 200-meter from two heats back on the leaders.
• The 4x400 boys relay of David O’Such, Nick Ondo, Jarred Shoemaker and Adam Musetti placed second.
• Mikaila White won the 55 hurdles.
• The girls 4x200 relay of White, Brandy Nice, Morgan Fenerty and Sammy DiPietro placed second, nearly state qualifying.
• Jen Yeakle has consistently been good in the shot put, placing sixth in this competition.

The Rams go on to compete in the High School Invitational on Saturday.