Burrell girls boast exciting mix of youth, experience

By: Jon Ramsey
Tuesday, November 12, 2024 | 3:11 PM

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Coming off a strong season, the Burrell girls basketball team looks to have an exciting combination of youth and experience this year.

“We are still relatively young. We really only have two seniors,” coach Shawn Reddick said. “We’re going to be starting a lot of younger kids, which, you know, is good for the program because we were relatively successful last year.”

The Bucs went 16-5 overall and 8-2 in Section 3-3A.

Reddick said he had one returner transfer out but expects other players to step up to fill in the gaps.

Reddick said his top returners are senior forwards Julianna Fisher and Bella Stewart, junior guard Mikayla Coury, junior guard/forward Casey Brancato and sophomore guard McKenna Miller.

“We can basically return the same starting lineup, so we feel pretty good about where we are at,” Reddick said.

Newcomers looking to make an impact for the Bucs include a trio of sophomores: forward Makiah Buchak, guard Adriana Vogel and forward Leah Waldsmith.

“They all saw a little bit of varsity time as freshmen but now have an opportunity in front of them,” Reddick said.

Buchak and Waldsmith are standouts on the Burrell girls soccer team, and Reddick believes their athleticism will benefit the starting five as the season progresses.

A challenge for Burrell will be the jump from Class 3A to 4A, Reddick said.

“We stepped up from 3A to 4A, and we’ve added North Catholic and Oakland Catholic to our section,” he said. “Any time you get private schools, you know you certainly have your work cut out.”

However, Reddick is confident his girls will be ready to compete.

“We’re going to have to prove that we’re worthy to be up here as a smaller 4A school,” he said. “We feel like we’ve worked hard this offseason, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Another challenge the Bucs might run into is bench depth, Reddick said.

“You’re going to find out right away because if I’m just running with one point guard, other big schools in 4A can exploit that with more depth on their bench compared to ours,” he said. “Bench depth will be tested in a higher classification, and I think overall speed and aggression ramps up as well, so we’ve got to be prepared for that.”

Reddick believes the Bucs will have success if they stick to their style of play.

“We like to be aggressive. We like to be fast up and down the floor. We like to get a lot of shots off,” he said. “We’re going to have to be prepared to play the way our opponents don’t like to play.”

Burrell girls at a glance

Coach: Shawn Reddick

Last year’s record: 16-5 (8-2 Section 3-3A)

Top returners: Julianna Fisher (Sr., F), Casey Brancato (Jr., G/F), McKenna Miller (So., G), Bella Stewart (Sr., F), Mikayla Coury (Jr., G)

Top newcomers: Makiah Buchak (So., F), Adriana Vogel (So., G), Leah Waldsmith (So., F)

Tags: Burrell