Apollo-Ridge girls team playing beyond its years

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, January 19, 2022 | 10:00 PM

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With no seniors on its roster, the youthful Apollo-Ridge girls basketball team took a wait-and-see attitude into the season with hopes of making an impact in and out of Section 4-2A.

So far, the veteran presence for the Vikings has meshed well with newer varsity talent to produce a 10-2 overall record and a 1-1 mark in section play.

“One of the biggest things I’ve seen from the preseason in October until now is the confidence they have,” Apollo-Ridge coach Ray Bartha said of his players.

“They go into games with a pretty good attitude realizing they can compete with anybody if they play the way they are capable. They expect to win, where before they were hoping to win. They don’t get shell-shocked if something doesn’t go right for them early in a game. Each week, they are getting better because of it. We’re young and are still working on a number of things, but the girls have set themselves up for good things in the stretch run (of the regular season).”

Apollo-Ridge started its season 7-0 before running into a buzzsaw in District 6’s River Valley, a newly formed merger of Saltsburg and Blairsville, at the Apollo Trust holiday tournament Dec. 29.

The Vikings bounced back with a strong defensive effort in a 38-21 victory over Ellis on Jan. 6.

“We went into the season unsure about how we would perform, but when we started winning games, that gave us all a lot of confidence,” said junior point guard Brinley Toland, who went into the St. Joseph game averaging a team-best 17 points.

“It showed us what we could do with our offense and proved that we could compete. It’s been fun. We’re a pretty young team, and we know we still have so much room to grow.”

Bartha said last week’s 49-42 victory over South Allegheny, fueled by 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists from Toland; and 18 points, seven steals and six rebounds from junior forward Sydney McCray, really showed him something about the development of the team.

“We threw some full-court pressure at them, and it was very successful for us,” he said. “It helped us get some easy baskets, and we built up a double-digit lead. It was a good game as far as going to after people. We were down early, on the road, and we weren’t playing well. But they kept working at it and were able to overcome.”

Despite a 53-37 loss to section-leading Greensburg Central Catholic (7-2, 3-0) two days later, Bartha was pleased with the way his team challenged the Centurions. Toland scored 19 points in that game, and McCray and sophomore Sophia Yard each added eight points.

McCray was averaging 12.5 points and Yard 9.5 entering Wednesday.

“Our pressure bothered them, and we didn’t sit back,” Bartha said of the GCC game. “We came back and cut it to nine with just over two minutes left in the game. We had possession, but we missed a shot. Then they came down and scored, and it pretty much put the game away. The score wasn’t indicative of how close the game was. That was a good sign for the team’s development.”

Bartha said he likes the way players such as freshman guard Kylar Toland, sophomore guard Jaden Mull and freshman guard/forward Paige Crawford are helping with scoring.

“We knew Brinley, Sophia and Sydney would be our foundation for scoring, but we’ve had some other younger kids contribute, and they continue to find their way with that,” Bartha said.

Bartha said he also likes the way 5-foot-8 junior forward Delaney Fitzroy mixes it up in the paint and grabs gritty rebounds.

“She doesn’t produce a lot of points, but she has really done well with rebounding and a lot of other little things for us,” he said. “She is a little bit of muscle for us under the boards.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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