Girls basketball teams facing crisis of dwindling rosters

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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She calls them her “Fab 5.”

Jeannette girls basketball coach Anna Leonard began the season with five girls on the roster. The issue has been a curse and a blessing to the second-year coach, who has had to adjust the way she manages fouls, timeouts and rest.

Cracking the starting lineup at Jeannette is a breeze. But with zero bench, games can be one grueling challenge after another.

When two girls fouled out against Northgate, the team had to finish a tip-off tournament game with three players.

Earlier this week, Jeannette had to cancel a game against Clairton because four girls were ill, school officials said.

“If I have to play with five, there’s not a better five I could’ve asked for,” Leonard said.

Jeannette’s situation presents a snapshot of a growing problem in girls high school basketball: shrinking roster numbers.

Southmoreland, Freeport, Highlands and Valley are some other programs with empty chairs along the sideline.

Like Jeannette, some of those schools do not have junior varsity teams this season. Some have very limited JV schedules.

Southmoreland has 10 girls on its team. The thin lineup can become problematic in preparing for games, coach Amber Cernuto said.

“Some challenges are trying to run drills at practice, having enough players to push each other in striving to get better and keeping up confidence in younger players without having a JV schedule,” Cernuto said.

Freeport also is staying above water with 10 girls.

The JV schedule has been hit or miss after the Yellowjackets played a full slate of JV games last year.

“The greatest challenge we are facing with our low numbers is our practice dynamic,” Freeport coach Mallory Ketterer said.

“The low numbers naturally bring limited competition in drills and scrimmages, which slows down the growth we can make in practice. Throughout preseason, we dealt with a couple injuries, so we only had our full 10-player team for two days. Not being able to run your offense, press, press breaker, etc. in a live setting on a consistent basis in practice makes it very difficult to prepare for the season.”

Five-on-five repetitions at practice can fall off with limited rotations.

“The skill level from the first eight to the last three is quite different,” said Highlands coach Shawn Bennis, who has 11 girls on his team. “We can only go live three-on-three or four-on-four.”

Greensburg Salem coach Rick Klimchock called the issue “an epidemic.”

Derry and Greensburg Central Catholic also have struggled with numbers in recent years.

“We have had seven JV games canceled already,” Klimchock said.

Jeannette graduated six seniors last year and was set to bring back only three players.

“Unfortunately, we lost one player to another sport, and she felt like doing both would be too much,” Leonard said. “We have retained the two girls from eighth grade last year from the middle school team, and we gained a soccer player who decided to give basketball a try.”

A new student started last week, Leonard said, so Jeannette’s roster could grow by at least one.

“Primary challenges of having few players is not having a full five-on-five opportunity during practice, burning timeouts for rest instead of strategy during games and players staying mentally strong,” Leonard said.

But slim numbers are not all bad.

“There are always upsides to having fewer numbers,” Leonard said. “More opportunity on individual skill work, and there is no question on roles each player plays and what we need to do to get them to their end-of-the-year goals.”

Reasons for the low numbers range from girls focusing on other sports or activities on a year-round basis to many working jobs that cause time constraints.

The former reason seems to resonate with coaches more. Volleyball, lacrosse and softball are examples of sports that girls are committing to full time.

A tug-of-war can result as teams try to pull girls to their respective sport.

“I believe there is a push to specialize in one sport among today’s athletes,” Cernuto said. “Many coaches are pushing athletes to practice year round and not encouraging the multi-sports. In smaller schools, this is difficult because you definitely need to share athletes.”

Bennis said the year-round basketball girls are the ones who are going to play.

“We have five or six girls who are really talented,” he said. “They have dedicated a tremendous amount of time and energy to their craft. Girls who just want to be part of the team get intimidated seeing them perform and do not think they will get any playing time.”

Basketball isn’t the only team with dwindling numbers: Highlands did not field a girls soccer team this fall.

“Just like in other years,” Bennis said, “the low numbers can be cyclical.”

Klimchock said some programs are “not for everybody” because of their intensity. Greensburg Salem is 14 players strong, including six who play varsity only.

But commitment to his team is a priority, even with girls who play other sports.

“We want our players all in, all the time,” Klimchock said. “And we share athletes with volleyball, soccer, softball and track.”

Greensburg Salem has open gyms every day in the summer. In-season practices are two-and-a-half hours long, and there are weightlifting and conditioning sessions twice a week.

“We have good, dedicated players,” Klimchock said. “They become invested as young as fourth or fifth grade.”

Contact in basketball also has played a part in girls avoiding or leaving the game, Ketterer said.

“The overlap of travel teams of other sports with high school basketball season has pulled countless athletes from our team and schools across the area,” Ketterer said. “(But) I have also talked with numerous girls that have admitted that the physicality of the sport is something that turns them away.”

Jeannette is persevering through the adversity. It won against Springdale, 48-37. Venicia Vignoli and Mary Jones had 16 points each, and Adriana Allison added 15.

“Jeannette is a small town with a big heart,” Leonard said. “As a newer coach to the district, I am getting nestled in and trying to build rapport and expectations of the culture I expect to see in the program. I hold these girls to high standards because I want to see a change in the expectations of behaviors on and off the court. I believe as an athlete you are a representation of your coach, your team, your school and your own personal brand whether you are in the classroom, on the court or at the mall.”

Leonard said she is working to tighten the bond between the city’s co-ed Knee-Hi program and the high school team.

“My coaching staff and I are trying to be respectful and not overwhelm the community or programs already in place, but we are trying to make long-lasting relationships to grow the varsity, middle school and feeder program from the ground up,” she said. “That takes time to do it right.”

Leonard also witnessed lower participation in girls soccer. Allison and Vignoli, her daughters, went out for the team to help it stay afloat.

Even coaches go the multi-sport route sometimes. Leonard also coached a soccer game for the Lady Jayhawks.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Freeport, Greensburg Salem, Highlands, Jeannette, Southmoreland, Valley