Boyertown Lady Bears girls’ basketball comes back with experience

The Boyertown High girls’ basketball team is returning a lot of players with experience for the 2012-2013 season. Fourth year head coach Jason Bieber (63-23) has a lot of senior leadership which will help the team. They had one scrimmage to date, and Bieber saw some good things, but there are also things that the team has to work on.

“They’ve really stepped it up during the off-season,” said Bieber. “They’re great leaders for the younger players.”

Katelyn Eisnehard is excited for her senior year, knowing that it’s her last hurrah in her scholastic career. She’s happy to be able to play basketball with the quality players around her, and she’s played with most of them since Biddy Basketball.

The season is going as expected so far according to Bieber, however they’ve had some injuries. One of the biggest losses to injury was Brooke Mullen who tore her ACL. Mullen has become a student coach and is still attending practice and helping out, bringing her energy and fire to the team.

“We have to deal with what we have,” said Bieber. “We have plenty of other healthy players. Someone will have to step up and take her spot.”

When Katelyn first found out that Brooke tore her ACL, it was hard on her because they have played together for a long time. “I never imaged not playing with her my senior year,” said Eisenhard. “I think it does put a little bit more pressure on me because she’s not there by my side. We compliment each other. She did things that I didn’t and I did things that she didn’t. Some of the things that she did, I have to do now.

Coach Bieber will have an experienced team coming back. He has a lot of returning players with varsity experience.Dee Terry, Olivia Cavallo, Kaitlin DeHaven and Katelyn Eisenhard lead the pack, while Bieber will also has some freshmen who will be able to see some varsity experience during the season.

There are several things that Bieber sees as strengths for the 2012-2013 season. The first is the team’s depth. Another is the experience of returning players. Bieber also feels that they are very athletic team. There are also some line ups where they will have six foot players in the game across the board.

The goals for the Lady Bears don’t change, they want to make the PAC-10 Final Four, then qualify for the district and state playoffs. The team has played a tough off-season schedule and had a successful summer and fall season.

“A lot of its going to be whether we can play with the same confidence that we played in the off-season.”

The Lady Bears have a very tough non-league schedule. They will face Downingtown East, Governor Mifflin, Abington, Parkland, Red Lion and Great Valley. Bieber likes the tough non-league schedule because he knows that it will help prepare him for league play.

The Liberty division of the PAC-10 has a lot of good teams like Methacton and Perk Valley. Perk Valley has a lot of good freshmen who will see a lot of playing time this year. Bieber also knows that Spring-Ford will be one of the top teams as well.

“Our league is very difficult and we’ll have to wait and see what happens,” said Bieber. “We don’t have any easy non-league games. That makes it better for us once we get into the playoffs.”

“It’s going to be a battle in our division and you have to say right now that Spring-Ford is on top,” said Bieber. “We were winning going into the fourth quarter when we played them last year here, and winning at halftime down there. But we lost by 10 points both times.”

Bieber and his coaches are looking for big things from Dee Terry, Olivia Cavallo, Kaitlin DeHaven and Katelyn Eisenhard. “Dee will be our point guard this year,” said Bieber. “She has a lot more speed and determination from her.

“Oliva started almost every game for us last year. She’s one of the hardest working players on the team.

“Kaitlin (DeHaven) brings great athleticism and a personality to the team. Katelyn (Eisnehard) is the two time league MVP. She can play guard, she can play center and she can play forward. She can do a lot of different things. Eisnehard is 36 points away from scoring 1,000.”

Being able to say that you scored 1,000 points in high school is a big accomplishment and not many players from Boyertown can say they’ve done.

“It was always a dream of mine since freshman year. I’ve gone out to set that goal,” said Eisenhard. “I knew that it’s something I could do if I set my heart to it. Yeah, it’s pretty exciting to get it because not a lot of people can say they’ve scored 1,000 points. “

Jordan Webb is a sophomore who will see some time on the court as well this year. There are eight freshmen on the team this year and some of them will see time at the varsity level.