RIMERSBURG — Josh Meeker knows he walked into a great situation when he became the Union girls basketball coach.

Still, to sustain a winning program isn't always easy and this season offered no guarantees.

With three seniors and just seven players on the varsity roster, the Damsels were expected to be good.

They were almost great.

Union used a 16-game winning streak to capture the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference-South title and reached the District 9 Class A title game and the PIAA playoffs.

For his efforts, Meeker has been named the 2010-11 Butler Eagle Girls Basketball Coach of the Year.

The honor is the third for Meeker, who also won the award following the 2004-05 and 2006-07 seasons.

It's the sixth coach of the year award for the Union girls basketball program. Ed Jamison received the honor in 1991 and Karen davis in 1995 and 1996.

“I talked to my wife about this, and I give God the glory for all of this stuff,” Meeker said. “I stepped into a great opportunity. I went to school here (1993 graduate), I played here, I coached under Karen Davis.

“Just a great opportunity for me. I learned under her and learned a lot from Don Stemmerich, a great coach in this area,” Meeker added.

Union finished with a 22-4 record and Meeker improved to 199-50 in his nine-year career.

“There's always preseason talk, and coaches seemed to think Keystone was the team to beat,”

Meeker said. “They were on our side (KSAC South) and we beat them in overtime. I think at that point, we began playing with a lot of confidence.”

After a loss put the squad at 4-2, the team didn't lose another game until the KSAC championship game, a 41-33 loss to Cranberry Feb. 19.

Union defeated Port Allegany 47-37 and Elk County Catholic 47-45 to reach the district title game, but a layup in the closing seconds handed the Damsels a 47-45 defeat.

The team then fell in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs in a 52-47 loss to Homer-Center March 12.

“As a coaching staff, we talked about the frustration of losing in the league championship, the district championship and the state playoffs,” Meeker said.

“Then, I think how many games we were down. We were down by double digits in the second half against Port Allegany and won. We were down by double digits in the second half against Elk County Catholic and won. I thought, ‘Hey, be happy about that,'” Meeker added.

Players such as seniors Tina Lipps (co-Girls Players of the Year), Ashley MacKinlay and Mariah Winchester helped set a standard for the younger players on the team.

Mackenzie Divins, Sierra Smith, Daneka Stuart and Delani Priester rounded out the varsity seven at the start of the season, but Meeker talked then of a strong freshmen class that would get worked into the mix.

“Did I think the potential was there? Yeah, but I thought that we had the ability the past couple of years,” Meeker said. “I knew this group could do it, but 22-4? I didn't foresee that. I'm just ecstatic.”

Lipps said Meeker was a calming force this season and one of the main reasons why the team succeeded.

“He's a great coach and a great man of God,” Lipps said. “I respect him very much because of how passionate he is about the game. He's a big role model for us.”

Here is how voting for the Butler Eagle Girls Basketball Player of the Year Award, which was conducted by the Eagle sports staff, broke down:<B>Coach (school) Pts.</B>Josh Meeker (Union) 16T.L. Eller (Grove City) 9Bill Burkart (Freeport) 8Tony Howard (Mars) 7