JERRY WOLKOWITZ Allentown’s Barbara Jones gets bumped by a Nottingham defender as she tries to get to the hoop during a game in Allentown on Jan. 31.
Allentown High School girls’ basketball coach Bob Dubina admits he’s been coaching this season with one eye on the court and the other on the future.
And who could blame the Redbirds’ first-year coach? Dubina took over an AHS program coming off a 6-18 season, returning only one starter and in dire need of a major rebuilding job. He has only two seniors on his roster of 12 players, which includes as many as five freshmen and another three sophomores.
"It’s a complete rebuilding job, especially now," Dubina said. "The last couple of games I’ve started a couple of freshmen."
Allentown’s youth and inexperience has shown on the court, too. The Lady Redbirds are just 1-15 this season with their only victory coming back in December, a 43-33 win over Manchester in the Jackson Christmas Tournament.
JERRY WOLKOWITZ Allentown’s Dana Van Hise goes up for a shot during the Redbirds’ game against Nottingham.
Going into Tuesday’s game against Princeton, they’ve lost eight straight games in 2002.
The schedule hasn’t helped, either.
"We’ve played the second, third, 15th and 20th ranked teams in the state," Dubina said. "So it’s been a tough schedule, especially as young as we are.
"Plus we’ve been killed by injuries. Lauren Van Hise, who’s only a freshman and probably our best player, blew out her ACL at the last practice before our first game of the season. Then our backup point guard, Joyce Dulnuan, blew out her ACL in the first game.
"And our starting shooting guard, Lauren Nutt, suffered a concussion a month ago and is out for the season. She was our best shooter, too. In eight games she already had 17 three-pointers. We lost two close games that with her we [would have won]."
The Redbirds have managed to be competitive in a number of games, despite all the injuries.
"We only lost to Hopewell Valley by two points after being up 15-2 early," Dubina said. "We lost to Princeton the first time we played them by only four points (44-40) in overtime. And we lost to both West Windsor North and Hightstown by 11 points.
"Most of our losses have been between 15 and 18 points. The other day we lost to McCoristin by 16 points (42-26), but with four minutes to go we were only down six," the coach said.
The first meeting against Princeton and Tuesday’s rematch was even more special to Dubina as he got to match wits against Bill Visokay, who was the head coach at Spotswood High School while Dubina was his assistant the last four years before taking over at Allentown.
"I’m not frustrated at all by this season," the 31-year-old Dubina said. "I knew what we had going in, that we’d be real young. But I think we can be real competitive in the next two years. We’ve just got to show some patience.
"The girls have their moments when they get down a little," he added. "But even though we’re only 1-15, they’re still into it and talk about winning. They know what’s ahead and that we’re going to turn things around."
Dubina and the Redbirds have reason to be optimistic, especially with so many underclassmen in the program. One of their best players is freshman Barbara Jones, a 5-foot-11 center who averages seven points and nine rebounds a game.
Another key freshman has been Lindsay Leck, who has started the last five games at the two-guard spot.
"It doesn’t show in the stats, but she plays great defense," Dubina said. "She’s probably the best athlete on the team, and she’s only a freshman."
Meanwhile, Barbara Iannatto, a 5-9 junior forward, is the lone returning starter from last season and is averaging six points and six rebounds a game.
Another junior, Kaitlyn Bender, is the first sub off the bench and the team’s best defensive player.
The other two starters are senior co-captains Amanda Szbanz and Dana Van Hise. Szbanz, a point guard, averages 3.5 assists a game, while Van Hise, a forward, is scoring close to six points a game.
But as the only two upperclassmen on the team, their contributions go well beyond the stat sheet.
"They’ve both done a good job as our senior captains," Dubina said. "We’re struggling, yet we still have intense practices because Amanda and Dana keep everybody into it.
"Plus they played on the field hockey team, which went 16-3, so they understand the other side. They’ve even said to me ‘You have to bring us back when the team starts winning.’"
Which may not be that far away. Besides the 10 underclassmen on the varsity, eight of the 11 players on the junior varsity are freshmen.
"So our freshman team is basically playing JV," Dubina said. "Next year, if I had to guess, we could be starting three sophomores, a junior, and I hear there’s a decent freshman coming in, so maybe we’ll be starting another freshman."
In addition, Dubina plans to keep his girls busy in the off-season.
"Before I got here, they hadn’t participated in a summer program in three years," he said. "Now I have nine girls who are going to play AAU this summer and seven of them are freshmen."
Add it all up, and Dubina has no doubt the future looks bright and believes better days are ahead for the Allentown High girls’ basketball program.
"Like I said, we’ve just got to show some patience," he said.