Beneath the shade of Germantown Academy junior Lilly Bolen (left), Gwynedd Mercy junior Megan Dougherty (center) and GA sophomore Cat Polisano (right) wrestle for the ball. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

As the 2015-16 hoops season gets underway, the girls of Germantown Academy look to be in a strong position to defend their Inter-Ac League title. The Patriots have lost compact guard Olivia Gorman, a strong three-point shooter who was the team’s high scorer in many games last winter. She was expected to play both basketball and softball at Wesleyan University, but this fall she wound up being a goalie on the soccer team, as well.

GA has everyone else back from last year’s roster, and since this is the second year in a row where the Pats are replacing just one graduate, most of the current juniors and seniors have a lot of varsity playing experience.

Back in June, 5’10” guard Kendall Grasela made a verbal commitment to the University of Pennsylvania. Two of her senior classmates made their decisions during the fall. Six-foot forward Lauren Oeth will play for Bloomsburg University, and 5’9” guard Erin Lindahl is headed for Atlanta and Emory University, where she will rejoin her former GA teammate Fran Sweeney (’13).

The other seniors are guards Maeve Connor and Leena Kardacz, both seasoned varsity players. In addition to Grasela, Lindahl, and Oeth, the fourth returning starter for the Patriots is 5’11” forward Lilly Bolen. Two young players who quickly came off the bench in most games were 5’10” guard Abby Starzecky (now a junior) and 6’1” sophomore forward Alexa Naessens. Sophomore guard Cat Polisano saw a good deal of varsity time, too, and she looked impressive in summer hoops action in the Gwynedd Mercy Academy league. For the start of the school season, the 11-player varsity roster is rounded out by two guards, junior Jessica Sheridan and freshman Rachel Balzer.

Germantown Academy was back on the Gwynedd Mercy court last Tuesday for a final pre-season scrimmage. In six eight-minute periods, GA accumulated a total of 58 points to Gwynedd’s 48.

The Monarchs gave Mount St. Joseph Academy all it could handle last winter within the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies. After the two teams split in their regular-season series, the Mount pulled out a 29-26 victory in the AACA championship game. Each school is returning a strong group of players, but Gwynedd will miss Maura Conroy, a sophomore point guard from Wyncote’s Ancillae-Asumpta who has been sidelined due to shoulder surgery.

Two GMA players who have already decided where they’ll continue their basketball careers are shooting guard Brigit Coleman and forward Erica DeCandido. Coleman has signed with University of the Sciences in Philadephia, where she’ll play conference contests against Chestnut Hill College. DeCandido, committed to Tufts, will compete in the same conference as Penn Charter senior guard Hannah Fox, who’ll be at Amherst.

Penn Charter, under a revamped coaching staff with solid credentials, will challenge GA for the Inter-Ac title. The Patriots’ primary rival in the league for several seasons, Episcopal Academy, lost two starters from last winter, one to an NCAA Division I program. EA has some impact players returning, but won’t have one of last year’s top underclassmen due to an ACL injury.

With her deep roster, GA head coach Sherri Retif noted, “We should be able to develop a good rotation and keep people fresh. Some kids give us more defense, some kids give us more rebounding, so we can make adjustments depending on what the match-ups are. For a change, we have a fairly large senior class this year, and that’s helping make practices very competitive.”

Most of the veteran skipper’s 600-plus career victories have come at Germantown Academy, where she is embarking upon her 18th season at the helm. One of her assistants this season is former area auto dealer Joe Magarity, and it’ll be interesting when the Patriots meet the Penn Charter Quakers, who have his daughter Colleen (GA ’07) on their staff.

Another new GA assistant is well known to many area players; André Strothers has coaching experience at both the high school and collegiate level, and has worked in the Fencor AAU organization for many years.

Good height in the backcourt will enable GA to deploy guards who stand 5’9” or taller and handle the ball very well.

“Erin and Kendall’s leadership is exceptional,” Retif said, “and Cat, Abby, and Rachel are very strong players who’ll back up the seniors.

“We’ll have multiple options for scoring,” continued the Patriots’ mentor, who said that she’s having “bigs” such as Oeth and Naessens work on their outside offense as well as their post play.

Last winter GA split with Episcopal in the Inter-Ac and won the league with an 11-1 record, going on to finish as runner-up to two-time champ Shipley School in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools tournament. The Patriots’ 21-6 overall record included four losses to well regarded out-of-state opponents.

This winter the Pats will tackle McDonough School from Maryland and Hun School and Peddie from New Jersey. They also have strong Philly-area clubs like Neumann-Goretti and Bayard Rustin High School on their non-league schedule. Elite teams from farther afield will await the Patriots when they wrap up the 2016 portion of the season by travelling to a long-running tournament in Florida, the Naples Holiday Shootout.