Shady Side Academy girls off to fast start

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, December 21, 2018 | 9:45 PM

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The Shady Side Academy girls basketball season opened the season with six straight wins.

Despite the success, coach Amy Szlachetka still isn’t sure what her team will be.

“To be honest, I’m not sure how we are doing right now,” she said. “We have definitely progressed from the team we were last year. We are doing many of the things we need to do in games.”

Despite their record (6-0, 3-0 in Section 3-3A), she sees room for improvement.

“The discipline could be better,” she said. “Our overall defensive discipline needs a lot of improvement. We have to work on staying in passing lanes, getting our nose on the ball in help situations and boxing out on every shot.

“Offensively, we are definitely running better. We do a nice job pushing the ball with our heads up and hitting the open player ahead of us.”

Szlachetka feels the team attitude has proven to be a strength, especially in section wins over Valley, Steel Valley and South Allegheny.

“What has surprised me the most has been our team attitude as well as the individual attitudes of every member of our program,” she said. “We have five seniors this year, and they are all leaders in their own right, so I knew we would have solid leadership, but it has been stronger and much more cohesive than I anticipated this early in the season.

“Our younger players have done a nice job following the lead of our seniors and all are working hard. They are reacting to instruction and criticism better than I could have hoped and, most importantly, supporting each other totally. The gym has been a positive and productive environment every day.”

Shady Side Academy will host the Peter Sauer Memorial tournament this week and then return to section action at Derry on Jan. 3.

“We have high expectations this season, so we know we have to challenge each other every day and we cannot be satisfied with any results until we play our last game of the season,” Szlachetka said. “The girls understand and embrace this.”

Senior Catherine Jewart is leading the team in every statistical category with averages of 15 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.7 steals and four assists. Ariana Goitz averages 14.6 points, five rebounds, 3.3 steals and 2.3 assists, while Nyla Rozier is averaging 13.5 points.

Marty Stewart is a freelance writer.

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