Germantown Academy's 2016-17 basketball captains are (from left) junior Cat Polisano and seniors Lilly Bolen, Jess Sheridan, and Abby Starzecky. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

The girls' basketball program at Germantown Academy will have a different look to it this year, and spirits were high as practice began recently with two dozen hoopsters on hand to fully staff the varsity and JV teams.

The Patriots claimed their second straight Inter-Ac League championship last season, but from that squad they suffered the kind of graduation losses that would devastate most programs. Kendall Grasella is playing at the University of Pennsylvania, and fellow guard and league MVP Erin Lindahl is at Emory University. Forward Lauren Oeth signed with Division II Bloomsburg University, and GA also graduated two other players from last year's roster, Maeve Connor and Leena Kardacz.

However, judging by their performance in the Gwynedd Mercy Summer League and in early workouts this month, it appears that the Patriots will have a blend of returning and new talent that bodes well for the season ahead.

Head Coach Sherri Refif returns for her 19th season at GA, and back from last year are assistants Joe Magarity and Maggie Lucas. Having to forego competition in Europe this winter as she rehabs from knee surgery, Lucas (GA '10) returned to the GA gym for the high school season, and will resume WNBA action this summer. She brings a special energy to Patriot practices, as her sometimes-weary protégés will attest.

Andre Strothers returns to coach the JV program, and he'll be joined this season by 1999 GA grad Kristy (Sarzynsky) Viscardi.

The varsity coaches can rely on three veteran seniors, including returning starting forward Lilly Bolen, who will play college ball at Tufts University. Guards Jess Sheridan and Abby Starzecky are the other 12th graders, and 6'1" junior Alexa Naessens, a third-year varsity player at forward, will help give the Pats a strong inside game.

The only other junior on the varsity roster is tall and talented guard Cat Polisano, who is team captain along with the three seniors. However, right at the start of pre-season practice, she twisted a knee out on the floor and it was learned that she'd join Assistant Coach Lucas as a victim of an ACL injury.

Fortunately for GA, sophomore guard Rachel Balzer brings a lot of skill and a year's worth of varsity experience back to the gym. Her classmates Taylor Putnam (forward) and Shannon Topley (guard) will be full-time varsity players, and another 10th-grader, forward Emily Morrissey, will see time with both the varsity and JV units.

Germantown Academy brought a bumper crop of freshmen into the barn this year, and four of them have earned varsity roster spots. Guard Maddie Burns is a Norwood Fontbonne Academy grad and the sister of Springside Chestnut Hill senior forward Chloe Burns, and her new classmate Jaye Haynes is the daughter of Jonathan Haynes, who came out of Germantown Friends School as a top-25 national recruit and went on to play at Villanova University.

Each of the other two first-team freshmen, guard Maddie Vizza and guard/forward Elle Stauffer, were highly-regarded AAU basketball players in the middle school age group.

Two other ninth graders will be varsity/JV swing players; Putnam's sister, Lindsay, and Caitlyn Priore.

GA, traditionally a well-travelled team, will already be heading out of state this weekend for a tournament in Fairfax, Va., and at the end of the month they'll be back down in the Old Dominion for the Boo Williams Christmas Classic. In their own annual gathering traditionally held before the holiday, the Make-A-Wish Tournament, the Patriots will once again welcome Penn Charter and Archbishop Ryan, with defending Pa. Independent Schools champion Mercersburg Academy being added this year to round out the four-team field.