Petruska, Rottmann coaches of year
Success brings accolades.
Butler County received plenty of them Tuesday as the Pennsylvania Sports Writers All-State Girls Basketball Team was released.
Dana Petruska of the Class 5A state championship Mars team and Molly Rottmann of the Class 4A WPIAL championship Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic squad were named state Coach of the Year in their respective divisions.
Both had two players make the all-state team. Planet junior Tai Johnson, who averaged 18.4 points per game, and senior Lauren Waslyson, who netted 17.5 points per contest, made first team Class 5A.
Johnson has verbally committed to Bucknell, Waslyson is headed to Xavier.
“They were my team captains and kept this team together,” Petruska said. “My hat's off to them. They always made sure this was about team, not individual.
“As long as I've been doing this, there were always issues ... I'm not getting the ball enough, they don't like me, things like that ... but not with this team. From the seniors down to the freshmen, everybody embraced each other and supported each other.”
Butler resident Kylee Lewandowski made second team Class 4A as a sophomore at CWNC, averaging 15.2 points per game. Tess Myers, also a Trojanette sophomore, made third team and averaged 13 points per game.
“Those are two phenomenal kids, not just basketball players,” Rottmann said. “For them to make all-state as sophomores is unbelievable, especially when neither one averaged a ton of points per game.
“Usually, when you look at an all-state team, the players on there averaged 18 or 22 points or so ... These two were recognized for their all-around talents, the ability to distribute the ball, play defense and get their teammates involved.”
CWNC repeated as WPIAL champion despite losing 2,000-point scorer Sam Breen to graduation last year. Breen is now playing at Penn State.
“Our girls are very serious about basketball and about winning,” Rottmann said. “Sam put up big numbers when she was here and I loved the way the girls were able to distribute that production among themselves this season. No one player could have done that.“This year truly was a team effort. It demonstrated the sense of accomplishment this group had as a team.”Karns City's Emily Hegedus, who averaged 25.7 points this season in becoming the Gremlins' all-time leading scorer, made second team Class 3A. She is headed to Clarion University.A-C Valley's Ellie Thompson, who averaged 19.5 points in becoming the Falcons' all-time top scorer, made second team Class 1A. She will continue her career at Mansfield University.Petruska praised the basketball knowledge of her players this year, saying “I didn't have to micro-manage” when they were on the floor.“With some teams, you have to guide them through every offensive possession, where to go, who to pass it to, etc.,” the coach said.“These girls know the game and how to play it. In this age, a coach may have to take a timeout to settle the girls down or to set up a last shot. But I was always careful not to call a timeout if we didn't really need it. Sometimes that makes the girls over-think things. They knew what to do.”
