| 2004 PIONEER BASKETBALL LEAGUE SEASON WRAPUP |
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| Five Years!! I cannot believe it's been that long since the league began. Each year seems to be stronger than the last. This year was no exception. We ended up the regular season with two teams tied for first place with only one loss apiece. We also had one team that did not win a game. However, this was by far the most competitive season to date. Even the winless team was in several heated battles during the season and almost pulled out two or three wins. It didn't matter what two teams were playing, you never knew for sure just who was going to come out on top. Five of our teams had head coaches who did not have a child in the league. We felt this was a strength as we have people coaching who are doing it for the love of the game. Once again this season we had one team coached by High School players. Ann Seufer and Carlie Ebra took the Miracle and led them to first place in the league. The reamining teams were all very well coached. As we go on from year to year, our quality of coaches continues to get better and better. Once we had 100 players signed up this year, we had 50 from Ohio and 50 from West Virginia. This was not something we tried to accomplish, it just happened that way. For the first time we had players representing Belpre Middle School, Kanawha School, St. John's Elementary and Waterford Elementary. We had 50 new players, 17 of which were fourth graders. We say goodbye this year to many players who have been with us for three seasons. Two players in particular hold some special significance to the league. The first one is Shandele Miller. Shandele holds the distinction of the only player to date, and probably forever, to play four years in the league. She was a third grader when she entered the league and was a competitive defensive player right from the start. The other player is Katlyn Richards. From the start of the league we had always tried to pull some players out of Parkersburg. Because of several other leagues in that area, we initially had problems. That was until Katlyn joined us as a fourth grader. She was the first girl from Parkersburg Catholic to play in the league and the rest is history. Their influence in the PBL has changed the face of the league and brought the competitive level to a new high. The neat thing for me about these two girls is I had the privilege to coach them both. Girls, you will be missed!! One of the measures of a season to see how it stacks up aginst the prior ones is the all-time record book. This year we had 2 teams enter the top ten all-time list along with 20 individuals. The previous scoring record was shattered. The previous record was 11.43 per game. This year we ended up with the top girl averaging over 20 points per game with the runner-up hitting over 15 points a game. The assist per game record also took a hit by two girls. The previous record was 2.20 per game and our top leader this year had 2.86 while the runner-up had 2.29 per game. Come tournament time we also had 8 new entries into the record book. That isn't too bad when you consider we only keep tourney records in two categories. The old points per game record was 16 per game and this year's winner averaged 24 per game including a PBL all-time high of 35 points in a single game. We had an unprecedented amount of help this year. All we had to do was ask and parents came forward and did anything asked of them. We also had a tremendous amount of help from the Williamstown Junior High, JV and Varsity players. We had a few new rules this season. They included a rule that no team could use the WES gym for practice. This rule was instituted so we would not confilct with all the school teams needing the facility. This sent our teams scrambling all over the valley to find places to practice. In the end it worked out. We also instituted a practice time rule in the preseason to try and keep all teams on an even level as far as practice experience heading into the season. One of the other major rule changes was the review of equal playing time. Towards the end of the regular season we bagan keeping time at the scorer's table to make sure it was as equal as possible. So, where do we head from here? The league has never been stronger. We are planning to enter our sixth season next Fall. We feel we have accomplished our main goal of providing the girls a league that is competitive. With the help we received this year it has made the decision to go forward very easy. SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!! Coach Seufer |