Photo provided courtesy of Bensalem girls' basketball, taken prior to the December shutdown.
BENSALEM GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PREVIEW
Coach: Steve Johnson (First Year)
Assistant coaches: Elena Toselli, Julia Cummiskey, Al Rongione, Andrew Candy
Last year’s record: SOL 7-5, Overall 12-11. Playoff berth, lost first round to Souderton.
Notable losses: Haley Keenan - Playing basketball at Del Val, Chloe Munyon -Playing basketball and soccer at Bryn Athyn, and Emily Wineburg-playing soccer at ESU, Pooja Singamneni (Sr. Not playing due to COVID), Avery McCoy (So. Not playing due to COVID)
Key returners: Delaney Bell (Jr. Guard), Sam Daut (Jr. Guard)
Others to watch: Maddie MacDougall (Jr. Guard), Erin Devlin (Jr. Forward), Taylor Hood (Jr. Guard), Kylie Smith (So. Guard), Gianna Paglaiccetti (Sr. Guard), Amber Howard (Fr. Guard), Mackenzie Kramer (Fr. Forward), Peyton Miller (Fr. Forward), Mikayla Donahue (Fr. Guard)
Strengths/Question Marks: “We are an in-shape basketball team. Majority of our girls played a fall sport and are coming into basketball season in shape. Shout out to our three captains; Delaney, Erin, and Maddie who organized wonderful run challenges throughout our two winter sport shutdowns! We have a close-knit group of girls who are great friends on and off the court. Even though we are a young team, we have a group of girls who love the game of basketball and better themselves each and every day. Our question mark coming into the season is our experience since we are only bringing back two girls who played significant varsity minutes last year.”
Outlook: “Last year we graduated three huge pieces to our program in Haley (1000-point scorer), Chloe, and Emily. We are an extremely young team this year, only having one senior on our roster. We worked hard in the offseason via Zoom, a few run challenges, and when permitted, in person. Delaney Bell and Sam Daut are our only two returners who saw significant time last year. Delaney is one of our three captains (Erin Devlin and Maddie MacDougall are the other two) who brings great leadership to our team. Delaney can shoot the ball extremely well and will step into a much larger scoring role this year. Sam is one of our strongest athletes and will more than likely be faced with guarding the opposing team’s best player night in and night out. Maddie MacDougall and Taylor Hood bring the ability to stretch the floor as both can shoot the ball from outside very well. Erin Devlin brings toughness, grit, and the ability to rebound to our team. Kylie Smith will step into the point guard role this year. Kylie is very athletic and can get up and down the court very quick. Amber Howard and Mackenzie Kramer lead an extremely strong freshman class. Amber brings the ability to get and finish at the rim as well as guard the 1-5 spot on the defensive end. Mackenzie brings an inside toughness that is needed to be successful in the SOL. Mackenzie is an extremely hard worker at practice and never takes a play off. Regardless of experience, our program’s expectation is to compete for the SOL title and reach the playoffs every year.”
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