LCA basketball teams anxious to start

By: Sean Moylan
   The Life Center Academy girls’ varsity basketball team will have to rely on the kids to get the job done this year.
   "Our team is so young. We only have one senior and one junior," said LCA assistant girls’ basketball coach Tammy Nowicki. "We’ll see what happens."
   Last year’s girls’ team was coached by Billy Rhoades. But he has since moved on to coach the LCA’s boys’ team. Nonetheless, LCA’s new girls’ coach Otis King should do well because he does have senior forward-guard Samantha Weer and junior point guard Ashley Nyul back for another season. Weer is solid scorer and Nyul uses her quickness to make countless steals on the court. Both have great court savvy.
   One of the big surprises for the Warriors this season could be 5 foot 11 inch sophomore center Michelle Odita. "She has improved tremendously," said Nowicki of Odita.
   Katie Steffen, a sophomore guard, offers the Warriors great speed while sophomore newcomer Frenesca Breves has tremendous stamina. Carlee Costanza, a 10th grader, can play as either a guard or as a forward. Moreover, freshmen Jazmine Hinson and Alika Taylor both have promise. This season the Warriors may also give some minutes to Dominique King-Wimberly, who is a standout 8th grade player. The Warriors did, however, lose a couple of their top players to the Florence High School basketball program.
   King and Nowicki are shooting for a .500 season and a playoff appearance. They’ll need to stay healthy to reach those goals because they don’t have great depth. Nonetheless,LCA always manages to stay competitive in the Penn-jersey League regardless of the circumstances.
   
BOYS
   Darryl Gladden’s Life Center Academy boys’ varsity basketball program was so successful that it was not only famous in New Jersey but it was well-known along the entire East Coast. Yet once Gladden’s last child graduated from LCA last year, he decided to move on and seek other challenges. And the people of Life Center Academy wish him nothing but the best.
   Nonetheless, the LCA boys’ basketball program has no intentions of slowing down and the Warriors even recruited Billy Rhoades, who coached LCA’s girls’ team last year, to coach the boys. Rhoades knows basketball inside and out. Nonetheless, he’ll have plenty of help coaching the faster paced boys’ game. Steve Perry and Chip Mitchell are his assistants, but Wilson Arroyo, the Director of Basketball Operations at LCA, is perhaps the person most responsible for making the Warriors sensational and always entertaining.
   "Wilson (Arroyo) has the contacts. In the last few weeks we’ve had a lot of college coaches check us out," said Rhoades. Arroyo travels all over the world gathering talented players for the team. Of course, LCA is a Christian school so Arroyo tries to make sure he finds high-character athletes.
   This year’s team will feature Mislav Jukic, a 6 foot 7 and ½ inch senior center-forward from Croatia, Michal Lesicky, a 6 foot 8 inch forward from Slovakia, and Daniel Ilavsky, a 6 foot senior point guard from Slovakia.
   "We have some good players," noted Rhoades. "It’s going to be very challenging. When you coach girls, it’s not the same as coaching boys."
   So far Rhoades likes what he’s seen from Abraham Ramos, a 6 foot 8 inch junior forward-center from Venezuela. Moreover Luis Valera, a tall junior forward from Venezuela and Jalin Perez, a senior guard who hails from the Dominican Republic, also are stellar players. However, Life Center Academy also has talented players from its own back yard. Senior guards Steve Perry and Jon Hinson are already proven scorers.
   "We have Steven Perry back. We have some good shooters back this year," said Rhoades. Steve Bond, a junior point guard, David Cotton, a senior guard-forward, Dane Mohrmann, a senior forward, and James Todd, a senior point guard, are also valuable members of the team.
   Last year, playing its usual grueling schedule against the top teams in the tri-state area, LCA struggled. But this year could be different because the team has the great outside shooters to go with the big guys under the basket.
   "I think we should do better than .500," said Rhoades, who is looking forward to a great season against some great competition. The Life Center Academy boys’ varsity basketball squad could be a great team but no one knows it because it has yet to play any of its scheduled games.
   "We haven’t played yet. On Monday Emily Fisher Charter School called up and canceled. And today (Tuesday) Atlantic Christian called and said they didn’t have enough kids to play (they stayed home because of the snow)," said Billy Rhoades, who is anxious to get in his first regular season game as the boys’ coach. LCA did have a scrimmage versus Medford Tech last Friday and it did very well in it. Last Thursday the Warriors held their first annual Boys Basketball Extravaganza.
   "We introduced the kids on the team to them (the Life Center Academy community)," said Rhoades. "We had close to 200 people there."
   LCA’s girls basketball team also had its scheduled game versus Atlantic Charter canceled.
   LCA’s boys’ team is scheduled to host Mercer Christian Academy on Friday and it is scheduled at Plumstead Christian on Monday. Meanwhile the girls’ team is scheduled at Solebury today (Thursday). It is scheduled to host the Springside School on Saturday and the Plumstead Christian School on Monday