RIMERSBURG— Josh Meeker has done more than follow in the footsteps of coaches before him.

He's widened the footprints.

The fifth-year Union High School coach was named Butler Eagle Girls Basketball Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons.

Meeker edged Slippery Rock's Adrienne Orris, Karns City's Dave Kerschbaumer and Mars' Dave Sylvester for the award.

Despite graduating three starters and nearly 2,800 points from the Golden Damsels team that reached the PIAA Class A Western Finals last year, Union put together a 27-4 record this year, including a 21-game winning streak and its third straight District 9 Class Achampionship.

"I felt like we had enough experience coming back to make another run at it,"Meeker said. "This year's team was a little more balanced in terms of scoring and we didn't press as much defensively as last year.

"Beth (Koch) and Andrea (Mortimer) excelled at applying full-court pressure, but we didn't have them anymore."

Koch was a freshman on the Clarion University women's basketball team this year. Mortimer wound up starting as a freshman at Penn State-Altoona.

Senior guard-forward Tiffany Corle and senior guard Janele Divins were the lone returning starters. Corle averaged 17 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while Divins averaged 8.7 points per game.

"We had Denyelle Painter and Mackenzie Shirey back after they were subs last year,"Meeker said. "They found their niche as starters this year and everybody played a role in the success of this team.

"People think Tiff carried us all year, and she did pick up a lot of the scoring slack, but this was really a balanced unit."

Union began the season 6-3 — its three losses coming by a combined 10-point margin — before reeling off 21 straight wins.

A 67-63 double-overtime win over Slippery Rock on Dec. 22 fueled his team's fire, Meeker said. Slippery Rock reached the PIAAClass AAAquarterfinals.

"Slippery Rock has an excellent team and for us to beat them made these girls believe in themselves, that we could do it again,"Meeker said.

Meeker is 129-21 in five years as Union's varsity girls coach, including 83-9 over the past three seasons.

The two coaches who preceded him — Karen Davis and Ed Jamison — are former Butler Eagle Coach of the Year honorees and combined for more than 600 wins at Union.

"This program has always been successful in our league and in our district,"Meeker said. "When I took this job, my goal was to expand our success in state playoff games. I feel like we've done that.

"Trying to push an already successful program to the next level is not easy, but I like where we're at right now."

Union's girls basketball program had never won three consecutive District 9 championships before this season.

"That was something these girls could do that last year's team couldn't,"Meeker said. "It meant a lot to them.

"Beating Coudersport — the same team we beat last year — in the district final made it even more special. They were gunning for us and returned more than we did from the previous year. We were underdogs in that game."

Meeker served as junior high girls coach at Union before succeeding Davis at the varsity level. He coached the elementary school team before that.

"Last year's team — I was the only coach those girls ever had from fourth grade on," he said. "That's a rare thing in coaching. I've definitely benefited from it."

Union graduates eight seniors and Meeker returns one starter, guard Torri Smith, and three sophomores, Lanae Cicciarelli, Courtney Frederick and Melissa Shook, who saw very little varsity playing time this season.

On the ride home from the Damsels' 77-64 second-round PIAAClass Aplayoff loss to Mount Alvernia, those four players approached Meeker at the front of the bus.

"They said they want to keep the tradition going, that they were going to work hard to see that the program doesn't fall,"Meeker said. "That meant a lot to me."