COAL TOWNSHIP - When a basketball team goes 22-2 and loses four of its five starters to graduation, the next season usually means rebuilding, and plenty of it.
But sometimes, the players who take over grasp the reins and make the team theirs.
Shamokin girls basketball coach Bill Callahan hopes the latter will be the case for his team this season, and so far, he may be getting his wish.
The Indians, after trailing Milton early in the game 9-4, ran off 22 uncontested points against the Black Panthers before settling for a 33-20 Heartland Conference Division I win on Wednesday which, while it wasn't pretty, was effective. The Indians are now 3-2 in the early going, and seem to be a hungry group.
"They're fighters. They're a scrappy bunch and they'll play you tough all game," Callahan said. "This is the game we play. One of the things when you have a real good team is that if the backup girls come to practice every day, they're going to get better. And if the pro-
gram is strong, it will take care of itself. The program was here before us, and it will be here after us."
Senior Keena Zalar led the Indians, even though she didn't play that much because of some physical problems. She scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds and had five steals, in probably less than 15 minutes of play.
"Keena's got a little tweak and we just wanted to be careful with her," Callahan said. "We have a week off, so that should give her some time to recover. We definitely lost a little spark when she wasn't in there."
Center Steph Pancher, the only returning starter, had eight points and eight rebounds, and point guard Sami Schiccatano also scored eight points. Forward Kelsey Yacko had 10 rebounds.
As for Milton, the Black Panthers, after their good start, must have thought someone put a lid on the basket. They ended up shooting just 6-for-38 from the field, and their leading scorer, Emily Baker, had just six points.
Callahan said Selinsgrove, Danville and Shikellamy are probably the best teams in the division.
"We'll be okay though," he said. "We'll fight and scrap. I thought Milton did a good job of that tonight. They couldn't hit shots but their press gave us some problems, especially after we took our starters out."
Game Summary
MILTON (20) - Gensel 2 0-1 4, Miller 0 1-2 1, Brown 0 0-1 0, Anspach 1 0-0 2, Kyle 1 2-2 5, Baker 2 2-2 6, Brouse 0 2-2 2, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Krebs 0 0-0 0. Totals 6 7-10 20.
SHAMOKIN (33) - S. Pancher 4 0-2 8, Schiccatano 3 0-0 8, Bonshock 1 0-0 3, Yacko 2 0-0 4, Zalar 4 0-0 9, Foor 0 0-0 0, Britton 0 1-2 1, C.Pancher 0 0-0 0, Breslin 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 1-4 33.
Milton 9 0 4 7 - 20
Shamokin 5 15 11 2 - 33
3-point FGs: Milton (1) - Kyle; Shamokin (4) - Schiccatano 2, Bonshock, Zalar.