Butler County trio shine brightly at UPG
GREENSBURG — Since one of Pitt-Greensburg's best players in the school's 10-year women's basketball history hailed from Butler County, it's hard to blame the school for looking this way again.
Seneca Valley graduate Torey Auld ranks among the top five on UPG's all-time list in seven categories. Now married, Torey O'Donnell is the girls varsity assistant coach at Knoch and recommended some prime county talent to her alma mater.
In fact, three Butler County graduates — junior point guard Nicole Beggs of Freeport, sophomore guard Nicole Reiser of Knoch and freshman guard Julie Ehrman of Butler — are starting for veteran Panthers coach Carol Gelet this season.
"I'm not surprised at all,"O'Donnell said. "Ihosted Nicole Beggs for a visit when I was there and I recommended the school look at Nicole Reiser once I came to Knoch.
"Both of those girls played AAUball for me. And Julie Ehrman is a perfect fit there, too."
Pitt-Greensburg is 4-4, 3-1 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, and hosts Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) College tonight.Reiser is averaging a team-leading 33.9 minutes per game after coming off the bench as the sixth player last year. Beggs is averaging 25.6 minutes per contest after barely getting 15 minutes per game her first two years.Ehrman averages 29.8 minutes per game as a freshman."I didn't think I'd be able to start this year,"Ehrman said. "We have a lot of good players here. I'm thrilled to be in this position."Ehrman considered Clarion, LaRoche, Bethany and Slippery Rock before deciding on Pitt-Greensburg. She is one of nine freshmen on this year's squad.UPGgraduated four starters from the 2005-06 team that set a school-record with 24 wins and reached the AMCCchampionship game for the fifth successive year."It was going to be a young team and I worked hard on my ballhandling skills during the off-season,"Ehrman said. "I'm not just settling for the 3-pointer anymore. When the opportunity's there, I'm going to the basket."Ehrman is averaging 9.8 points per game and has made 16 treys. Beggs has canned six 3-pointers to go with 16 assists and 10 steals.Reiser leads the Panthers in scoring at 14.4 points per game. She has nailed 15 treys in 31 tries, leads the team with 33 assists and is shooting 80 percent at the foul line.Reiser was a point guard at Knoch, but has not played that position at UPG."Here, we asked her to run the whole show,"Knoch coach Curt Vasas said. "That took away from her offensive output a little bit."Nicole is a phenomenal scorer and a great defender. Her shooting percentage is outstanding at Greensburg, and she's earned a lot of responsibility there in a very short time."
O'Donnell coached Reiser and Beggs on the Western Pa. Ballers AAUteam during the summer."They play well together, and Nicole Beggs is a true point guard,"O'Donnell said. "I'm sure they've been good for each other."Beggs had to beat out two talented freshmen to win the starting point guard position this year."She's not a flashy player, but she knows our offense, distributes the ball well and doesn't turn it over,"UPGassistant coach Kevin Conlon said. "We don't need Nicole to score in this offense, but sometimes opponents will back off her and she'll drain the 3."Having Nicole Reiser out there is like having a second point guard on the floor. She's one of the more versatile players we've had here."Second on the team with 5.5 rebounds per game, Reiser may be the most versatile player to wear a UPGuniform since O'Donnell, the program's record-holder in assists, 3-point goals and steals while ranking fourth in rebounds."Nicole's name is going to be right next to mine in all of those things before she's through,"O'Donnell said.Despite the Panthers' youth, Conlon expects the team to win 15 to 18 games, battle for the conference title and perhaps earn a Division IIItournament bid.Vasas only hopes he's right."The better that team does, the more attention college coaches will pay to Butler County girls basketball," he said.
