Northern Tier Sports ReportThe Troy girls’ basketball team stayed on top of the NTL again this season, defending their Large School and Showcase titles, even if their season came to an earlier than expended end in the district playoffs.
“It was really exciting coming into this season,” said Troy coach Curtis Miller. “We brought back six seniors and many underclassmen that we knew would be ready to step up at both the JV and Varsity levels. The girls worked incredibly hard in the off-season to prepare themselves, but we knew that the rest of the league was young as well and that it was going to be a battle night in and night out. I think our girls did a great job of taking the season one game at a time and continuing to learn and to grow throughout.”
Troy went 18-4 on the season to nab the third seed in the District IV, Class AAA playoffs. They had just one league loss this year en route to claiming the best record in the NTL.
“The season definitely had its ups and downs, but I think that as a program we responded well to different kinds of adversity,” Miller said. “The first game of the season we battled with Central Columbia, then we faced some great teams at the Josh Palmer tournament, and then again faced adversity vs Wyalusing where we really had to regroup afterwards and get back to the basics of playing together and playing with everything we had each night. I think after the rush of the beginning of the season, we really settled in and started to play our best basketball down the stretch. I give all the credit to our senior leaders who led by example every single night and really took it upon themselves to make the most of their season and to guide our underclassmen all at the same time. I really couldn’t have asked for a better or harder working group of girls to coach. Their effort, their attitudes, and their willingness to do whatever it takes to be the best version of themselves is unmatched and even though the season didn’t end quite like we planned, this group of girls left everything they had on the court, and it was such a pleasure to watch them all do what they love.”
The season opening loss to Central Columbia (45-44) was a back and forth battle, and portended good things ahead as they went on a four game win streak after that: CV (55-27), Canton (59-40), Milton (59-53), and NEB (53-43).
They would go 1-3 over their next four with a loss to Bishop Kearney (71-47), a win over North Rockland (63-52), and then a loss to Horseheads (52-35) in the Josh Palmer Tournament finale.
They opened January with a loss at Wyalusing (43-40), then responded with a 13-game win streak to end the regular season.
They kicked things off with a win over Towanda (77-54), followed by victories over Athens (52-27), Wellsboro (78-25), NP-Mansfield (71-30), Sayre (75-20), Williamson (67-26), NP-Liberty (61-35), and ended January with a key win over Wyalusing (62-27).
They opened February with a win over NP-Mansfield (55-33), then beat Towanda (68-27), Athens (50-39), Jersey Shore (57-48), and Wellsboro (46-34).
They went on to beat Canton, and NEB to claim their second straight NTL Showcase title.
However, their season came to a premature end with a loss to Mt. Carmel (48-42) in the district quarterfinals.
Kailyn Sterling (15.4 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.1 SPG, 2.7 APG) led the way for Troy, followed by Alyssa Parks (11.8 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 3.6 APG, 2.4 SPG).
Giana Renzi (10.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.8 APG, 2.0 SPG) ran the point, while Gloria Andrews (8.9 PPG, 57 3-pointers on the season) stretched the floor.
Veteran Ella VanNoy rounded out the starters, while freshman Kyah Renzo (3.9 PPG, 2.3 RPG) was their sixth man.
Madelyn Seeley (3.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG), and Kendall Allen helped out off the bench.
Going forward it will be a new look Troy team next season as they say good-bye to a very talented and accomplished senior class.
“To our seniors – I can’t thank them enough,” said Miller. “From their freshman year until now, they’ve committed themselves to championship level basketball and they truly gave it their all. As good of basketball players as they are, they’re even better people off the court and I can say the same thing about every girl on this team as well. This senior class is leaving as back-to-back NTL and NTL Showdown Champions and they’ve set the standard for years to come and now it’s the underclassmen’s turn to take the torch and build upon the culture that has been set. The future of Lady Trojan basketball continues to be bright, and I have no doubt that the lessons learned throughout this season will only help in preparing our younger players for what they’ll face and accomplish in the years to come.”
