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Harmony girls basketball player drives the ball to the basket against Penn Cambria. Leyo, Progressland's girls basketball's all-time leading scorer, has been named the girls' Player of the Year for the third-straight season. (File Photo by Jim Butler)
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2009-10 Progressland Girls Basketball all-stars announced: Harmony's Alyson Leyo tabbed as Player of the Year; Castagnolo named Coach of the Year
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
By Jon Christoff Sports Writer
With the recent conclusion of the girls basketball season, it's time to hand out the annual Progressland selections.
While the eight local teams may not have had successful postseasons, it doesn't diminish what they did during their regular season schedules.
Clearfield improved this season behind a veteran senior group, as the Lady Bisons won a Progressland-best 15 games this year.
Philipsburg-Osceola and West Branch also had very strong campaigns, as each moved into its respective District 6 bracket only to be eliminated in the first round.
The Lady Warriors finished their Moshannon Valley League slate with just one loss in claiming the conference crown, while Glendale, Harmony, Moshannon Valley and Curwensville made the road as difficult as possible on their rival.
In addition to the trio of playoff teams, the only other team with a non-losing record was the Lady Owls, who were led by Progressland's all-time leading scorer in Alyson Leyo.
Leyo, who was tabbed the Player of the Year in her sophomore and junior campaigns, turned in the hat trick with another stellar, all-around performance on the hardwood.
Leyo joins a select few in Progressland history to win POY honors in three straight seasons.
While his Lady Bison squad was unable to return to the District 9 Class AAA title game for the second year in a row, Clearfield head coach Joey Castagnolo has been named the Progressland Coach of the Year.
Castagnolo's squad improved all around this year and had a better season, despite falling short in the postseason.
Joining Leyo as first-teamers are Clearfield's Madison Sopic and Gwenn Porter, Glendale's Morgan Biddle, Philipsburg-Osceola's Taylor Harpster and West Branch's Rebecca Kephart.
The first team was chosen based on statistics, other postseason accolades, and observations by the Progress' Sports Department.
Coach of the Year: Joey Castagnolo, Clearfield: Castagnolo's offense is typically known for its 3-point prowess, but the Lady Bisons' head coach made a slight change to his offense this season that paid big dividends.
With seven seniors on his roster, Castagnolo implemented the dribble-and-drive offense to better suit his squad, and the result was a spot in the District 9 Class AAA semifinals and a 15-win season.
While Clearfield advanced to the D-9 title tilt a season ago, this year's group averaged nearly nine more points per game, and made just 11 fewer 3-pointers in the more diverse offense.
The Lady Bison defense also improved as it tied West Branch for the Progressland lead in scoring defense (42.9).
Player of the Year: Alyson Leyo, Sr., Harmony: No matter what the opposition threw at her, Harmony senior Alyson Leyo always had more than it could handle.
A three-time Progressland Player of the Year, Leyo concluded her scholastic career as the girls' all-time leading scorer after setting the mark with a season-high, 28-point performance in her final game against Clearfield.
Leyo drew double teams and the opposing team's best defender on a nightly basis, and still managed to score a Progressland best 402 points this season.
The Lady Owl forward, who also handled the ball and knocked down 29 3-pointers, wasn't held in check very often as evidenced by her only having three games of fewer than 15 points this season.
Harmony's school record-holder for points in a career, Leyo had 13 20-point contests this season and dominated the glass for 286 rebounds - or an average of 14.3 boards per contest.
Leyo also finished the season with 82 blocked shots, 58 assists and 85 steals.
Morgan Biddle, Jr., Glendale: Biddle was a second-team selection as a sophomore, but the Lady Viking junior elevated her game enough to make the leap to this year's first team.
A terror in the post, Biddle's inside presence gave Glendale one of the area's best inside-outside combination with sharpshooter Brooke Legrand. If teams doubled down on Biddle, she was able to kick the ball out to Legrand and vice versa.
Biddle led the Lady Vikings by scoring 11.9 points per contest, and added some stout defensive numbers to push her into the area's elite.
The Glendale forward pulled down 187 rebounds, blocked 44 shots and dished out 37 assists. Biddle also ended the season with 40 steals.
Taylor Harpster, Sr., Philipsburg-Osceola: The streak of first-team Progressland selections for Harpster continues, as the Lady Mountie senior put forward one of the best efforts of her career this season.
Harpster, who has been a first-teamer in every varsity sport she has played since her freshman season, led P-O to another strong season under head coach Missy Helsel.
The versatile forward led the Lady Mounties in scoring (15.2 ppg) and rebounding (162), while also dishing out 27 assists and coming away with 37 steals.
Harpster set the tone for her season in the Brookville tournament, as she scored 45 points in two contests, and followed it up with five more 20-point performances throughout the course of the season.
Harpster was held to single digits just five times, and finished her career second on the P-O girls' all-time scoring list - behind only Helsel.
Rebecca Kephart, Sr., West Branch: A first-team selection as a junior, Kephart led the Lady Warriors to their third straight postseason appearance after turning in arguably her best season on the hardwood.
Kephart became the second girls basketball player in school history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau with a 17-point effort against Curwensville on Jan. 25, and later pulled down her 1,000th rebound.
A matchup nightmare for opposing coaches, Kephart finished the season with six 20-point performances and ended the year with 345 points to cap her career with 1,160. Kephart ended her senior season with 227 rebounds, which was good enough for a 9.9 rebound per game average.
Gwenn Porter, Sr., Clearfield: A first-team returnee from last season, Porter may have benefited from Castagnolo's change in offense the most - as evidenced by her season-high 28 points in a season-opening win over Coudersport.
Porter's tenacity on both ends of the floor resulted in good things for the Lady Bisons, who won two more games this season and lost four fewer.
The Clearfield point guard finished the season with just eight fewer points than Madison Sopic, the Lady Bisons' leading scorer, and dished out a team-high 88 assists, while making 60 steals.
Porter added two more 20-point games in a loss to St. Marys and a win in the regular season finale over Harmony.
Madison Sopic, Sr., Clearfield: Sopic had as good of an all-around season for the Lady Bisons as anyone in the area, as she was tops - or close to it - in nearly every statistical category for Clearfield.
A solid player throughout her varsity career, Sopic took the next step this season by finishing as the Lady Bisons' leading scorer. Sopic didn't score more than 18 points in any game this season, but was as consistent as they come with 16 10-plus-point efforts.
Sopic netted 18 points against St. Marys and Harmony, and had 15 points or more in games against Johnsonburg, DuBois and Curwensville.
Sopic, a guard, was second on the team in rebounding with 134 and led all Clearfield players with 72 steals to go along with 65 assists.
On the second team are Clearfield's Amber Byerly, Curwensville's Tess Bloom, Harmony's Makenzie Kruise, Moshannon Valley's Vanessa Rowley, Philipsburg-Osceola's Maureen Witters, Purchase Line's Cassie Brocious and West Branch's Mariah McDowell.
Rounding out the team as honorable mention picks are the Lady Vikings' Brooke Legrand and Kelli McGarvey, the Lady Owls' Lindsay Neff, the Damsels' Claire Harlow, the Lady Mounties' Lauren Simcox, the Lady Dragons' Patience McCullough and the Lady Warriors' Bethany Kopchik.
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