Weise’s girls have reason for hope
By: Kyle Moylan
With wins in its final two games of the season, the Allentown High School girls’ basketball team finished with a 10-14 record and carries a lot of momentum into the off-season.
Yeah, there’s almost as much work to be done now as there was a month ago. That’s just the nature of high school basketball.
"The girls worked hard and had some success," noted Allentown Coach Linda Weise. "I’m looking forward to the summer. We’re already talking about the summer league and workouts."
This past week Allentown was defeated in Mercer County Tournament action by Hamilton, 61-31. Angela Scibilia scored nine points and Lauren Winston added seven in the setback.
Allentown rebounded from that loss to win a pair of MCT consolation games, starting with a 52-50 win over Hopewell. Bea Pesciotta scored 19, Dominique Cerulo 11, Amanda Turowski 10 and Lauren Winston seven in the win.
Allentown followed that victory with a 46-32 win over Princeton. Jenna Winston scored 13 points, Pesciotta 11, Caitlin Ryan eight and Jen Richard six in the win. Pesciotta, a freshman, finished in the top 10 in scoring in the Colonial Valley Conference.
"It’s sad to see the season end, but we ended with a couple of positive notes," Weise said. "I think we grew as a team and really improved."
The careers of Caitlin Ryan, Dominique Cerulo, Christine Beal and Lauren Winston have ended. With so much young talent on the team and an undefeated squad from Upper Freehold coming into the school as freshman next season, there are players for Weise to build a program around.
"I’m not going anywhere," noted Weise, who just finished her first season at Allentown after a long career at Hamilton. "This year was really enjoyable for me. We’re encouraged with the support of the community. We want people to get excited about basketball."
Weise certainly is.
"With Bea and Amanda, the other returnees we have, the freshman coming up and the girls coming into the school next year, I’m really excited," Weise said.