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Prepping for Preps '21-22: Methacton (Girls)

12/10/2021, 9:45am EST
By Sean McBryan

Sean McBryan (@SeanMcBryan)
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(Ed. Note: This story is the latest in CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2021-22 season preview coverage. As we publish more, the complete list of schools previewed will be found here.)

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Methacton’s girls basketball program has been a mainstay atop the Pioneer Athletic Conference for the better part of a decade and is still chasing that PAC championship.

The Warriors have winning records eight of the past 10 seasons and been to seven of the past 11 PAC title games (last season there wasn’t one due to COVID); they’ve made the District 1 tournament eight of the past 10 seasons and made the PIAA tournament four of the past 10 seasons.

“Our goals are always to qualify for the league, district and state playoffs,” head coach Craig Kaminski said. “Over the last 20 years, even during a few of our losing seasons, the girls always bring a ‘never want to lose’ attitude to the floor. We usually do not have true ‘basketball-first’ players in our program, but we get great athletes that are competitors and can overcome basketball talent if molded correctly which we feel we have done.”

The goal this season is to take that success a step further with four returning starters, including 1,000-point scorer Nicole Timko, and Kaminski entering his 20th season at the helm in Eagleville.

“We have had much success during the regular season, which has put us in great postseason positions,” Kaminski said. “But we have never been able to capture that ultimate goal. The team is hungry to change some of that this season.”

A group photo of the Methacton girls basketball team

(Photo: Methacton girls basketball)

Methacton has not won a PAC title since joining the league in 2008, seemingly always running into strong Spring-Ford or Boyertown teams. It won the Suburban One title and made it to the district final, losing a 41-39 nailbiter to Downingtown East, in its last season in the league.

Over the past 10 years, the losses that have sent the Warriors to the playback rounds, home or to get ready for states have never come by more than 12 points and were dealt at the hands of good programs such as Abington, Downingtown East (again), Haverford, Garnet Valley, Central Bucks West, West Chester Rustin and North Penn. The furthest Methacton has gone since that 2008 final is the 2020 district quarterfinals as a five-seed before running into fourth-seeded Pennsbury.

It’s an accomplishment to be perennially good, but the Warriors want more. Doing well in league play helps with seeding for districts and ditto for districts going into states.

It all starts with the PAC and the Warriors have a great opportunity to capitalize on that. The four-time defending league champion Spring-Ford has graduated four starters.

“I think we have the most experience playing together this season,” Timko said. “We play off each other’s strengths and weaknesses very well. Our goal is to continue working hard and improving as a team in order to win the PAC championship this year.”

The Warriors faced the Rams in the 2019 PAC final, losing 55-41, and again in 2020, losing 47-39. Spring-Ford was awarded the championship with an undefeated league record (14-0) in the regular season last year; league playoffs were canceled due to COVID. Methacton went 12-2 in league play and 14-6 overall.

“I think this is the year that we can finally overtake them,” Timko said. “It will still be tough games, however I think we will be able to pull away. We strive to go undefeated in the PAC.”

The Warriors have been close, but not able to get over the hump to win a championship.

“We have had our shot at [Spring-Ford] five times in the PAC championship game without any success,” Kaminski said. “We are not looking that far ahead during a 22-game season. We don’t play them in our league schedule until January 11. Both teams will have a good idea what they are by then, but this is more than a two-team league.”

Kaminski reached 300 wins last year and his record sits at 305-191 (.615 winning percentage) going into the season.

Timko, a 5-9 senior guard, has 1,202 career points after averaging a team-leading 16.9 points per game as a junior. She’ll again be in a lead role with the team, and heading off to Christopher Newport University to continue her academic and athletic careers at the conclusion of the year.

Group photo of four Methacton girls basketball players

Nicole Timko (center) averaged double digit points in every season so far. (Photo: Methacton girls basketball)

“Nicole Timko is an incredible basketball talent and student of the game,” Kaminski said. “You cannot teach what she brings to the floor. It is natural basketball ability. She is like having a coach out on the floor.”

She also brings an uber-productive scoring game, averaging 12.1 points as a freshman and 16.1 as a sophomore; Timko is 480 points away from becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer.

Her favorite way to score is from the 3-point line, where she’s made 197 baskets at a 36 percent clip over her three years, but she’s learned to drive and finish at the basket or pull up for a midrange jumper as defenses try to take the long ball away.

In order to get to the program record by the end of the regular season, she’d have to bump her average to 21.8 points. If the Warriors end up playing 30 games; Timko will just need to average 16 points per game to get to the record.

“One of my goals this season is to set the new all-time leading scorer record for Methacton,” Timko said. “I think if I continue playing my game and our team makes it far in PAC playoffs, districts and states that I will be able to achieve this.”

Tori Bockrath, a 5-8 senior forward; all-league Cassidy Kropp, a 5-8 junior guard; and all-league Mairi Smith, a 6-2 junior forward/center, also return after starting last season for the Warriors. Smith was the second-leading scorer (9.8) and top rebounder last season (8.6); Kropp was the third highest scorer on the team with 9.4 points per game.

Kropp and Smith played a lot of AAU ball this offseason and improved tremendously, Kaminski said. Kropp has a great handle and court vision and has improved her outside shot. Smith is an excellent rebounder and shot blocker who has worked on her post moves and shooting range to become an inside/out threat. Bockrath has improved her all-around game.

“We will need to rely on all four of them every game to be successful and not just count on one or the other each night,” Kaminski said. “We need all four to perform at a high level every game.”

Four seniors from last year graduated, including starter Allie Hazlett, who averaged 6.4 points and 6.5 rebounds.

So who will step into the fifth starting spot?

“We have several options as the fifth starter and it could change game to game,” Kaminski said. “Senior Kayla Kaufman served as the sixth man last season and has a great defensive and rebounding presence at 5-11. She does a lot of the little things that a team needs to win. Junior Reana Torres saw some minutes as a sophomore last year and has a physical presence, as she brings a lot of energy to the floor, and also adds another shooter to the mix. Freshman Abby Arnold is a welcomed addition to the team. At the guard spot, she would bring another ball handler, shooter and hustle player to the rotation.”

Methacton plays the five teams in the PAC Liberty (Spring-Ford, Perkiomen Valley, Boyertown, Owen J. Roberts, Norristown) twice. The team will play Pope John Paul II and Upper Merion from the Frontier Division of the league this season. Kaminski mentioned a challenging non-league schedule that includes games against West Chester Rustin, Mount St. Joseph’s, Archbishop Ryan, Villa Maria in the Hoops for Hope Classic at U of Sciences in January, and potentially Abington in a Wildwood tournament over the holidays.

The Warriors will face defending-PAC champion Spring-Ford on the road on Jan. 11 and at home on Feb. 1.

Kaminski said he and his staff like to keep the game fun and not make it a job while still working hard, learning and improving. With that has come winning and success.

“Coach Kaminski does a great job of not only preparing us to play competitive basketball and win games, but he also makes sure that we continue to enjoy playing basketball and playing as a team,” Timko said. “We take trips, like our annual tournament in Wildwood, where we can build team chemistry, and we have pizza and pasta parties every so often after practice.”

The Warriors, despite all of the success the program has already had, still want to exceed what they’ve done in the past. The best way to do that might be sticking to what has worked and having fun while doing it.


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