By Rob Potter
March 29, 2005 – Editor’s Note: Today we continue our look back at the recent scholastic basketball season. Please see more team wrap-up stories in future issues of the Democrat.
LIVINGSTON MANOR

Overall Record: 10-10

Division Record: 5-5 OCIAA Division VI

Top Players: Senior forward Carrie Lewis was the Lady Wildcats’ leading scorer this past season. She averaged 13.4 points per game.
Junior guard Heather Sherwood scored eight points per contest and sophomore guard/forward Jackie Trotti averaged 7.5 points a game.
Junior forward Katie Portz and senior guard Ashley Mann netted 5.3 and four points per game, respectively.
Portz led the team in rebounds, pulling down an average of 11 per game. Lewis grabbed nine rebounds per contest and Trotti recorded eight rebounds a game.
The Lady Wildcats’ assist leader was Mann, who dished out an average of seven per game.
Sophomore guard Rose Curtis led the team in steals, as she averaged four thefts of the basketball each contest.

Season Highlight: “It was coming back to beat Eldred after being down by 10 points with only a minute left in the game,” Coach Kevin Clifford said.
In the OCIAA Division VI game which was played on January 7 in Eldred, Manor rallied from that 10-point deficit in the final minute to record a 43-41 victory.
Curtis scored the winning basket with just four seconds remaining in the contest. With the score knotted at 41-41, she swished a 16-foot jump shot from near the top of the key to give the Lady Wildcats a two-point victory.
“It was an important regular season win on Eldred’s homecourt,” Clifford said. “That was one of the team’s peak performances this season.”

Season Lowlight: “It was not going deeper in sectionals,” Clifford said. “After reaching the Class D finals last year, we wanted to get back to the championship game this year.
The Lady Wildcats’ 2004-2005 season ended on their homecourt in a February 23 loss to John A. Coleman Catholic School in a Section IX Class D quarterfinal game.
The Lady Statesmen used their height advantage to record a 55-39 victory over Manor that evening.
Other: “I think this was a team that worked hard this season,” Clifford commented. “These girls played with a lot of heart.”
The Lady Wildcats will lose four players to graduation. They are Emily Dalrymple, Lewis, Mann and Nicole Miller.
“I’m going to miss all the seniors who are graduating,” Clifford said. “But we will have several great players coming back next year. Six of our top eight players from this season will be back.”
Clifford noted that several of those returning players are already preparing for the 2005-2006 season.
“Almost all of them are in the weight room everyday after school,” he said. “And many of them will be playing on our AAU team this spring and summer.”


ROSCOE

Overall Record: 4-15

Division Record: 2-8 OCIAA Division VI

Top Players: April Hodge, a senior forward, was the Lady Blue Devils’ leading scorer this season. She averaged 15 points per game.
Senior guard Brittany Mootz was the team’s second-leading scorer. She netted five points a game.
Kendra Harris, a junior guard, and Colleen Houghtaling, a senior forward, each averaged four points per contest.

Season Highlight: “We won two division games,” Coach Becky Ahart said. “We beat The Family School twice and each game was a well-played game by both teams.”
Ahart noted that the Lady Blue Devils other two victories this season were against Margaretville, a Section IV Class D school in neighboring Delaware County.

Other: “We worked hard and improved as the season went along,” Ahart said. “These girls played with all-out effort and a great deal of heart.”
The team will lose Harris, Hodge and Mootz to graduation in June.
“We will miss the seniors, but we have some good athletes coming back next season,” Ahart said.