Voigt led Cougars to season to remember
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Kevin Kretschy could identify with a well-known “Brady Bunch” episode when he was applying for the Montgomery High School girls basketball head coaching position.
”That’s all I heard before I took the job — Marcia, Marcia, Marcia,” he said.
Three years later, Marcia Voigt has made sure that her name is an even bigger part of the MHS program. The 5-foot-8 guard cemented her place as the cornerstone for a Cougars team that arguably had the best season in program history.
”I could see right from the start that people were really starting to understand their roles and understanding for us to be successful, we needed to step up in all aspects of our game,” Voigt said. “Some of the accomplishments we got, I don’t know if we were expecting them, but we definitely wanted it from the start.”
Voigt’s best all-around season certainly helped. She led the Cougars in scoring, assists and steals and ranked second in rebounds though she could play point guard at the next level. She passed the 1,000-point milestone on her way to becoming the Cougar program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,372 points despite facing constant box-and-one and triangle-and-two defenses.
”It’s really cool,” Voigt said. “It’s one of the things that I’ll remember about high school, all the wins we had, all the championships we had, and that’s just another thing that makes it that much more special.”
She also contributed mightily on the other end. This year, she took on the opposing team’s top offensive guard.
”Last year to this year, the biggest change was her defense,” Kretschy said. “Susan Keneagy was one of the best on-the-ball defenders I’ve ever seen. When she left, Marcia wanted the responsibility even though she knew she’d have responsibility on the offensive end. She wanted it.
”That may mean fewer shots for her, but she’s never shown to me or her teammates that she cares about that,” he added. “The bottom line with her is she wants to win. She’ll rebound and play defense.”
Voigt’s contributions helped produce a breakthrough season for the Cougars. They were unbeaten in Skyland Conference Delaware East Division play for the first time. They earned the top seed for the Somerset County Tournament and won the Cougar Holiday Classic. They advanced to their first Central Jersey Group IV championship game where they finished their program-record 23-4 season.
Marcia Voigt is the Princeton Packet Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
”There’s not much I could change,” Voigt said. “The team’s been great. We’ve had good chemistry. We’ve had the good games, the bad games. We’ve persevered through tough games and come back and blown teams away. I don’t know that I would change anything.
”I always think that there are things to improve,” she added, “but I’m happy with where I’m at. I’m not satisfied yet.”
Voigt, who will continue her playing career in college, took another step forward in her senior year. She improved in all areas — from her shooting to her ball-handling to her defense — to help the Cougars any way she could.
”My goal for Marcia was consistency,” Kretschy said. “I told her, I’d rather have you at 15 points per game, have more assists and less turnovers than anything higher (scoring-wise). Teams played us triangle-and-two and box-and-one all year and we still found a way to win.
”I think she shot 80 percent off the pull-up, which is unheard of. She looks for Jen Wysocki running the floor. She and Carly (Rosenthal) play together. She looks for Laura (Coletti) inside. It was really her consistency on the floor that was so important.”
After four years as the Cougars’ main scorer, Voigt has grown accustomed to seeing junk defenses. She has worked on ways to continue to score despite so much attention from opponents.
”I’ve worked on basically beating a player one-on-one and trying to find ways to make cuts that keeps the defense on their toes,” Voigt said. “The main reason I’ve been able to score still is my teammates. They’ve really stepped up and taken the weight off the main scorers on the team. The opposing team can’t guard one, two or three people for the whole game and the whole team not score. We had games where they were able to contain the main scorers on the team, and the rest of the team stepped up and made their shots and we won.”
It’s hard to guess how many more points Voigt could have scored in her career and how many more wins the Cougars might have had if teams had tried to guard them one-on-one.
”She developed a lot since I got here,” Kretschy said. “She can handle the ball. She can pass. She can pull-up and finish. Most people don’t do that until they get to college. She has to improve her strength and consistency even more for that next level and she’ll be even better.”
Voigt stands to improve plenty as she focuses on basketball. In addition to basketball, she has played four varsity seasons of soccer and four seasons of track and field. It’s a rarity in an era of specialization, though Voigt never let basketball get far away.
”During the spring season last year, I did AAU basketball during track,” Voigt said. “The year before, I did club soccer, AAU and track in the spring. I was busy during the offseason.”
Said Kretschy: “I don’t know how she does it physically. She has great grades. And she’s a social kid. I don’t know how she does it.”
The hard work and dedication of the school’s all-time leading scorer have been richly rewarded. Voigt will graduate after setting new individual and team standards for future Cougars.
”I think she’s one of, if not the most decorated female athletes in Montgomery history,” Kretschy said. “She has 12 varsity letters. Her name is synonymous with Montgomery athletics. She has two county soccer championships and a state title. In track, she does very well. You talk to anyone about track, soccer and basketball, and everyone brings up Marcia.”
Kretschy heard it plenty before he ever saw her play. It seems certain now that many who never had the chance to see her play will be hearing plenty about Montgomery’s Marcia Voigt.

