Mapleheightspress.com - Firebird girls look back on what could have been

by Devan Matthews

Correspondent

In what was an up-and-down season for the St. Peter Chanel girls basketball team, the Firebirds finished the campaign in a strong fashion.

Chanel's season came to an end recently in the form of a 57-45 loss to Berlin Hiland in the Division IV regional championship game at Massillon Perry High School. The Firebirds had advanced to the regional finals by battering McDonald by the score of 68-27.

Chanel finished the season with an overall record of 18-8. In addition, the Firebirds captured the North Coast League White Division championship with a divisional record of 9-4.

According to Chanel head coach Hugh McMahon, he's proud of how his players reacted to adversity during the early part of the season and were playing their best basketball in the playoffs.

"It was up and down, that's for sure," said McMahon. "We played a very tough schedule and lost a number of games to good teams. Sometimes, that can break a team's sense of who they are, but these girls responded at the end of the season. They were playing their best basketball when it counted the most."

Chanel is graduating four seniors. Two of those seniors-forwards Courtney Cook and Ashley Davis-were four-year starters for McMahon. The other two seniors are guard Megan Duman and forward Cheryl Lotts.

McMahon indicated that Cook has been instrumental in the success of the program during the past four years.

"Courtney was one of the girls who really helped turn it all around," he said. "When she came in, she started right away and picked everything up quickly. She's an honors student with a 4.0 GPA. Courtney's been a rock, and we've always been able to count on her. She always played well in big games for us. It's been a privilege to coach her."

According to McMahon, Davis entered the program as a pure athlete. Along the way, she's amassed a tremendous amount of basketball skill.

"Ashley's come a long way," said McMahon. "She's improved every year, and I'm very proud of her development as a player."

Both Cook and Davis plan to play sports at the collegiate level. Cook will compete in volleyball, while Davis will remain in basketball.

Despite the loss of its seniors, Chanel is still primed for another successful season next year. That's because of the talent and experience of the Firebirds' underclassmen.

Back for the 2008-09 campaign will be junior guard Katie Bubna, junior guard Jaclyn "Jazz" Kellon, junior forward Aly Sarosy and junior guard Morgan Russell.

In addition, Chanel received valuable contributions from freshman guard Tiera Lewis this past season.

"We have some people who have been around for awhile," said McMahon. "We have three starters in Katie Bubna, Aly Sarosy and Jazz Kellon. Katie started every game for us, and Aly and Jazz weren't that far behind. Morgan and Tiera will be a tremendous help, as well."

The only downside to the season was that Chanel did not reach the state tournament. The Firebirds had made that one of their goals. However, falling short might provide the returning players with a certain measure of additional motivation.

"I think getting so close to the final four will make us more determined," said McMahon. "Hopefully, we can come back next season, build on that emotion to become better players and better coaches and get the job done."

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