School/Sport
Penquis Valley High School Girls Basketball
Coach
Varsity – Molly McGinn
JV – Beth Heal
Last Season’s Record
Regular season: 7 – 11. They hosted a preliminary game in the open tournament format against Searsport and won, but then they traveled to play a preliminary game against Calais and lost.
Expectations
“We believe that it is important to develop the whole athlete, meaning that player’s will be encouraged to play the game respectfully, with good sportsmanship and integrity while developing a positive team culture,” McGinn said. “Athletes will be expected to give 100% effort on the court and players that hustle and are coachable will be rewarded with playing time.”
Strengths
“This team is extremely athletic and fast. We will look to push the ball in transition and focus the offense around higher percentage points,” McGinn said. “The team has a lot of gritty defenders and will be able to press early in the season and hopefully force lots of turnovers and earn points off of their hard work on the defensive end.”
Weaknesses
“In the past, this team has struggled to break a press and has been considerably smaller than a lot of their opponents,” McGinn said. “We will look to counteract this by pushing the tempo and working hard on the defensive end to eliminate second chances and cause turnovers with defensive pressure.”
Key Returning players
This team is being led by a large number of returning seniors: Abbie Conlogue, Aileen Strout, Ida – Grace Lundin, Imaan Ali, Rachel Broussard, and Jessica Broussard. These players will be looked to for leadership and will earn a lot of playing time on the court. The team has one returning Junior, Addison Conklin, and was the leading scorer for the team in previous seniors. Returning sophomores include Rylee Heal and Naima Ali.
Key Newcomers
There are a handful of newcomers that will be essential in growing the program and establishing a strong presence on the court. Taylor Small and Haylee Newman join the team as sophomores, while Amara Driscoll and Brooklyn Decker are the incoming freshmen additions.
Other Information
This is Coach McGinn and Coach Heal’s first season at the high school. McGinn said, “We are looking forward to growing the program and building upon the strong foundation that the players have to start the season off strong with.”
Schedule
The Patriots open their season on December 9th with a home game against Dexter before a busy following week with away games at Guilford on December 13th and Howland on December 16th, with a home game against Schenck mixed in on December 15th. Eastern Maine Sports Media will have live coverage when Penquis plays host to PCHS on January 14th.
Photo courtesy of Eric Ogden photography
