Cougars’ Wiseman leads ‘kids’ to title

MHS girls off to 5-0 start

By: Justin Feil
   Katie Wiseman originally was a little worried about her senior year.
   She isn’t anymore.
   Wiseman scored a career-high 22 points in the Montgomery High girls’ basketball team’s 57-46 win over Edison on Wednesday to capture the Gene Haley Tournament at JFK-Iselin High for the second straight year. The day before, she scored 12 points in one half of action in a 54-36 win over Carteret, the same day she was accepted into one of her top two college choices. With the tournament win, the Cougars are 5-0.
   "I totally did not expect this start," Wiseman said. "After we played this summer, I knew we’d be all right. I didn’t think we’d be 5-0 with a tournament championship. It’s a very good surprise."
   Wiseman gets her share of credit for the start. She’s been stellar as the team’s only senior this year.
   "She’s been the glue that’s held us all together," said MHS head coach Paul Popadiuk. "She was determined after last year to make it a cohesive team unit. She’s led by example and taken the young girls under her wing. It’s tough, they’re freshmen. She’s done a good job of bonding them. She’s very smart. It shows. She got into Northeastern."
   Wiseman is glad that won’t be her only accomplishment in her senior year. Faced with the prospects of a team with only one other returning varsity player, junior Emily Hyncik, there was plenty of reason to fear a struggle this winter.
   "Before we actually all started playing together," Wiseman said, "at the end of my junior year, I thought it would be a rebuilding year.
   "I think we realize that as long as we play our game and play well, we can play with anyone," she added. "Before this, we were hoping for a winning season and a decent finish. Now we’ve come to expect to play well against any team."
   This despite the fact that the Cougars have just one senior. Wiseman has seen her classmates drop out of the program year-by-year. She stuck it out, even when it wasn’t so fun.
   "She’s learned more and more each year," Popadiuk said. "She had a rough sophomore year. She hated me. We’ve grown to be close."
   Wiseman doesn’t refute those claims.
   "Freshman year wasn’t so bad," Wiseman said. "He wasn’t tough on me. Sophomore year, it was a complete change. Mentally, I wasn’t as into the game. We had some difficulties. He tried to get me to play better. He used some different styles. They didn’t work. He knows we had a rough sophomore year. We’re all better now.
   "We both learned a bit of what not to do and how to handle certain situations. It made us closer."
   It’s those sophomore struggles that could come in most useful this season as Wiseman leads some inexperienced teammates. She’s been there. She knows how difficult it is to jump into varsity games. Sometimes it’s more than words that they need.
   Tied, 23-23, with Edison late in the second quarter, Wiseman hit a three-pointer and a layup as the Cougars closed the first half on a 7-0 run and never looked back. They stretched the lead to as much as 20 in the second half before getting some experience for their reserves late in the game.
   "I saw it was tied and I wanted to get us the lead," Wiseman said of the late first-half run. "They were guarding Emily well so I took some shots."
   Said Popadiuk, "Katie stepped up and had a career day. She had four threes. She was unconscious. They didn’t have an all-tournament team. She would have probably been MVP, if they had one."
   Wiseman doesn’t have to put up MVP numbers all year for the Cougars to be successful. The new MHS players have proven they can score, as can Hyncik, who also had 12 points in the win over Carteret.
   "We’re all pretty much equal," Wiseman said. "On any given night, someone could be on. The next night, it could be someone else. It works well for us.
   "We’ve just always been able to work well together," she added of the keys to the 5-0 start. "We run the floor well. We worked on defense a lot which helps. We’ve always been able to count on people to score and make big plays."
   Wiseman is expected to do her share, but she isn’t feeling as much pressure as she expected coming into the season. The young players have helped alleviate some of that pressure as Wiseman adjusts to a leadership role.
   "It’s like the opposite of what I’ve done," Wiseman said. "Last year, we had four other seniors. I didn’t have that big a role. I was expecting it to be a lot bigger this year. It’s been a lot easier than I expected. It’s spread out."
   Wednesday, it was Wiseman’s turn to lead the scoring. She was happy for the chance to help the team in that way too.
   "I just started to shoot," she said. "For the most part, they weren’t guarding me. They were guarding Emily very tightly. I knew someone had to score."
   Popadiuk likes Wiseman’s leadership that has developed through the years. He has seen her come so far since that tough sophomore season. She has begun her senior year playing like a three-year varsity player.
   "She’s got a good temperament," Popadiuk said. "She keeps everyone else calm. As a freshman, she got a uniform. Then sophomore year, she got some playing time. She played more and more. She struggled here and there. But she’s very astute. She knows what’s right and wrong and what we need."
   Wiseman’s solid play has helped the Cougars get out to a fast start, one that she didn’t fully expect. It’s one they hope to build on in the New Year. It’s a year that bears a lot of promise, more than Katie Wiseman ever expected.