Reed: Huskies look to make some noise in both boys and girls hoops this season

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: November 25, 2024

Photo Kathy Reed

By Dom Reed

LEWISTOWN – The Mifflin County Boys and Girls Basketball teams hosted a Hype Night at ShyBear where coaches and players could speak to the media and a meet and a time to greet.

The Mifflin County Boys team coached by Wade Curry will look to build off of last season when they made the postseason posting a 10-13 record falling to State College at Mount Aloysius 51-44 in the D6 6A District Championship game. Mifflin County is already building to a great preseason ahead of the season playing well and shooting the ball extremely well during Saturday’s scrimmage.

I spoke to the coaches and the players here’s what they had to say

“We have a bunch of kids who are goal oriented. They have set goals for themselves from an early age. “I’ve been coaching them that entire time along with some other great coaches. These guys know how to set their goals and work to achieve them so it’s been a fun offseason. We look forward to a season that is a faster pace. We will be a smaller team. I think we are more nimble. These guys play with an edge. They want to compete. They’ve won in the past. They know what that feels like. They do not like to lose. They will play for each other so we’re super excited about the season.”

Mifflin County has two seniors this season Evan Strohecker and Aidan Attivo.

“I’m very excited to get back on the court. I’ve been out for almost a year now i’m ready to play with the boys again to get back into it,” said Evan Strohecker said, “You know we have a young team this year. We can all shoot the ball pretty well so play defense that’s all we need. I’m very excited.”

The Huskies have a lot of talent and young talent makes for a great season on the boards for the Dawgs.

“It’s crazy that I’m a senior now. I am just going to try to make the most of it in my last year but again I’m really excited to get out there again. It’s been a long time,” said Aidan Attivo. “I think we have a very deep young lineup. We have lost some seniors last year but I think we are going to bring it back and have a pretty successful season so i’m excited.”

Another returner coming back to the squad this season is Jack Curry.

“I think we really worked on our offense and adapting to our lineup based on how we are going to play,” said Curry. “ Based from our line up,I think we will be able to surprise teams and win a lot of games teams aren’t expecting us to win. Like my teammates said we can really shoot the ball and we have a really really deep roster. No matter whos in the game we’re going to have a strong offense and a strong defense.”

The Mifflin County Girls basketball team has high hopes coming into the season. Despite not making the postseason and posting a 9-13 record last season the team played well at times and showed growth both on JV and varsity. Mifflin County Girls basketball team is coached by Aaron Gingrich.

“Like we have been saying, there are a lot of varsity minutes to replace. With that being said, a lot of teams that are on our schedule might over look us” said Gingrich. “Some of the kids that we have now are going be relied upon and they have been working extremely hard. We have a quite a few kids that have a little meanness to them. They are very aggressive and we’re going to try to capitalize on that early on.

“The returning players have had a nice voice of leadership so far this season Maelyn, Jalee Bodtorf, Mackenzie Peachey, Ava Baker and Cierra Williams.”

Gingrich also has younger players that are willing to also provide leadership.

“We come down to the sophomore class which my group of guards are Payton Weaver, Jayda Kanagy, Malaina Maxwell and Mya Felmlee. We are so high on the edition of Leah Reed who just came to Mifflin County this year from Belleville Mennonite.

She has been a wonderful addition. The girls love her. She works her tail off. We are really excited about what this season holds.”

“I don’t think alot of teams are going to know what we’re going to look like because were going to look completely different. Yesterday against Bellwood-Antis, when we were successful we were very aggressive on defense and we go into our transition game.

So I think were going to have to score points in a variety of ways. Some of those points can be scored in transition, offensive rebounds, steals things like that to pick up some of the scoring punches we lost last year.”

Senior Maelyn Gingrich is anxious to make her senior year one that will not ever be forgotten.

“The key is to have fun this year even though it’s my final year,” said Gingrich. “I want to make good memories and enjoy my last year.”

Teammate Mackenzie Peachey is excited to see how the team gels.

“I’m excited to see what everybody has to offer,” said Peachey. And how we can put it all together and work hard as a team and just be positive attitudes.”

Newcomer Leah Reed is excited about her new team and the type of competition the team will face during the season.

“I’m looking forward to learning a lot working with a different group and going into tougher competition and grind as a player,” said Reed.

Baker likes the challenge and the relationship building the upcoming season will provide.

“We are a bit of a younger team this year. I’m looking forward to forming new relationships with these new people and just focusing on getting better one day at a time having fun while doing that,” said Baker.

The key things that can be taken away from Sunday’s event was the girls on this team want to get better and improve.

Reed is a big addition to this team. Gingrich has had great teams before and no matter what he finds ways to win.

This team has a bright future and it’s only going to improve.

Another key player that have really played well is Jayda Kanagy. Kanagy is a key piece on defense getting varsity minutes last season.