JACKSON TWP — Kara Spagnola straps on the knee brace — the reminder of a college career cut short — and steps onto the basketball court at Seneca Valley High.

Spagnola, the girls junior varsity coach for the Raiders, goes at her players hard. She'll steal the ball, drive to the hoop or spot up for a jumper.

She's teaching them how it used to be done when she played at Seneca Valley.

“She is the emotional leader of that group,” said Seneca Valley girls basketball coach Rob Lombardo. “It's almost like she is still a senior captain.”

Spagnola has the junior varsity team playing well. Seneca Valley is 14-5 heading into the season finale Monday.

Good teams and winning records were the norm when Spagnola played for the Raiders until she graduated in 2003.

“I try to instill in them to have school pride,” Spagnola said. “When I was here, our team was in the playoffs every year. We were competing. I just want them to know Seneca Valley basketball hasn't always been at the bottom.”

While the JV team is excelling, the varsity team has struggled.

Seneca Valley is coming off a week in which it lost by 50 points to North Allegheny, was nearly shut out in the first half against Oakland Catholic and dropped an ugly game at home against rival Butler.

The program might be down now, but Spagnola sees better days ahead.

She should. She's coaching a group that will be the future.

“They are a group of hard-working girls,” Spagnola said. “I tell them that it's not just JV. They can't win a section or go to the playoffs, but it still counts for the future. It brings me great thrill and joy to see them succeed.”

All Spagnola has done in her basketball career is succeed.

After her standout high school career, she made the team as walk-on at Division II Slippery Rock University.

Spagnola played her way into a scholarship after her sophomore year at The Rock, but two knee injuries cut her career short.

The despair of an unfinished college career prompted Spagnola to get into coaching.

“After I got hurt, I realized this is what I wanted to do,” she said. “I couldn't be away from the game.”

Spagnola worked for a year under former Seneca Valley girls basketball coach Kelly Mathews as a junior varsity assistant. When Lombardo, who coached Spagnola when she was in grade school, took over the program, he promoted Spagnola to assistant coach.

“She knows no other way than to fight through things,” Lombardo said. “We're trying to build a program and she's teaching these kids that they have to fight through adversity to get where they want to be.”

Where Spagnola wants to be is on the bench coaching her players.

“If you have the heart and the will to win, nothing can hold you back,” Spagnola said.