GIRLS’ BASKETBALL: Greencastle-Antrim tries to take next step

By Ben Destefan / bdestefan@therecordherald.com

Posted Dec 6, 2018 at 7:00 AM

Several familiar names are found on the Greencastle-Antrim girls’ varsity basketball roster for the 2018-19 season.

With that comes experience, but also the need for players to take the next step to improve upon a 9-13 campaign last winter.

“If we can score the ball, we should be in every game,” Blue Devil head coach Mike Rhine said. “We played great defense last season, but we struggled scoring the ball. That’s what we’re looking for this year, girls to step into those scoring roles.”

Headlining the roster is the senior quartet of Lydia Crist, Madison Sweitzer, Ashley True and Jordan Yeager, all of whom were routine starters as juniors.

Crist and Sweitzer are both four-year varsity contributors, with Crist coming off a season in which she averaged a team-high 11.3 points per game. Sweitzer averaged more than five points and five rebounds per night, complementing Crist as G-A’s leading tandem.

True paced the Blue Devils on the boards with nearly seven rebounds per contest while Yeager, Ashley Noblit, McKenna Rakaczewski and Sayge Wilhide each provided significant minutes.

While playing soccer in the fall, Noblit suffered a severe injury that will cause her to miss basketball season. Having served as point guard, Noblit’s absence will create some shifts in G-A’s lineup.

Heidi Schanzenbacher returns to the roster for her senior season while Rhine spoke highly of freshman addition Lauren Pool. Olivia Winslow is also projected to be in the mix as are Paige Avey, Kylie Cunningham and Avery Parks.

“We have experience and we have some younger girls that we’re really excited about,” Rhine said. “I think we can certainly be in the hunt for the division, and hopefully we can make a run at getting back to the postseason.”

G-A opens its season Friday against Waynesboro in the first game of the Franklin County Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Chambersburg. Start time is set for 4 p.m.