The New Philadelphia girls’ basketball season is underway with the Quakers starting off with a 1-3 record, 0-1 in OCC play in the early goings, but Coach Kevin Cornell said the team is working through injuries and building chemistry.
“We have a mixture of youth and returners, so we are working daily to build chemistry,” Cornell said before the start of the season.
Cornell is in his 14th season at New Philadelphia, with his sixth year at head coach. He has been successful with an 88-30 overall record. Last year the Quakers went 11-11 and they bring back their two top scorers in senior Jazzee Barker and junior Ellie Mason. Mason was first team All-OCC last year and Barker was honorable mention.
However, they had some fall sports injuries on the squad, and the team has been playing hard and focusing on playing for one another.
“We will lack some depth with injuries and experience at the varsity level in general,” Cornell said. “We return top two scorers from varsity last season and we have improved each week in the preseason of learning to compete and playing together.”
New Philadelphia opened the season with a 33-30 win at Zanesville on Nov. 22 led by 11 points for Mason and nine points for Barker. However, they followed with three straight losses (48-31 to Indian Creek led by Mason’s 10 points, 48-45 overtime loss to Indian Valley with Mason and Barker scoring 19 and 12 points respectively, and 65-28 to Mansfield Senior.)
Next up is an away matchup with Tuscarawas Valley on Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m, followed by Wooster on Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m at home.
