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Prepping for Preps '22-23: Neumann-Goretti (Girls)

10/18/2022, 8:30am EDT
By Joseph Santoliquito

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2022-23 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 9. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here)

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Andrea Peterson has grown used to it by now. That doesn’t mean the nine-year Neumann-Goretti girls’ basketball coach likes it. It’s a program that doesn’t receive the kind of respect its achievements merit, and that’s fine by Peterson.

As long as the Saints keep winning.

The Saints won their fifth state championship last season in eight years. In 2015, Peterson was named the national Naismith Coach of the Year. Her teams consistently win, despite fielding a tiny team, in a tiny gym, with little help and little attention.


Neumann-Goretti's Carryn Easley leads a young backcourt for Andrea Peterson. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Still, the Saints produce.

That may have a lot to do with Peterson, who guided the Saints to four-straight state titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), who’s 5-0 in state title games, 30-2 in the state playoffs and 160-45 overall in eight years.

This season will present a different conundrum: The Saints return a far greater foundation than they had at the beginning of last year—and this comes after losing their most potent scorer, Mihjae Hayes, now at Virginia State.

Neumann-Goretti finished 17-9 overall and often times had just seven players. There were days last season when the Saints only had five players at practice. With eight players, the Saints won the PIAA girls Class 3A state championship by beating WPIAL runner-up Freedom, 55-49, getting 32 points from Hayes. It was the closest any team got to the Saints, who beat their opponents by an average of 18 points during the state tournament.

It will be a lonely bench again for Peterson, who could have 10 players this season. What is certain is seven will play major roles, beginning with 5-10 senior guard Amirah Hackney, 5-8 senior guard Saneaj Tyler, 5-9 junior guard Brooke Barnes and 5-5 sophomore guards Amaya Scott and Carryn Easley (second team All-Catholic League), who will be the floor leaders. That core will be joined by 5-7 freshmen guards Kamora Berry and Zion Coston.

“We’re going to be very young this year, but very experienced with a lot kids returning from that state championship run from last year,” Peterson said. “It is a fun group. This team hangs out off the court, which makes life easier when they’re on the court together.

“We don’t have a lot of size, and we proved last year that you don’t need a lot of size to win. I like to say it’s all heart over height. As long as we stay disciplined and do the things that we’re supposed to do, we’re going to win. We’re going to win with five guards. We’ll find a way. We’re quick, we’re athletic and we’re going to be able to things, because we’re going to be tough to guard.”

The biggest void will be making up for Hayes—on and off the court. On the court, she was a scoring machine who literally carried the Saints on her back to a state championship. Off the court, Hayes played den mother to a young group who were willing to listen and follow her.

The Saints will win by pressing and running.

Neumann Goretti's, from left, Amaya Scott, Amirah Hackney and Carryn Easley, are all returners from last season's state title squad. (Photo: Joseph Santoliquito/CoBL)

“Mij is a huge loss for us,” Peterson said. “In big games, in clutch moments, she always performed. Again, with the group we have coming back, we have a lot of girls who learned a lot by following Mij. Brooke, Amirah, Carryn and Amaya return with a lot of experience.  

“This group was groomed to know what it takes to win and what it takes to reach a championship level. We don’t worry so much with matching up against other bigger teams, we see it as they have to match up with us. Being smaller, being athletic, we’re going to be the quicker, faster team. Our scoring will have to be distributed. The door is open for who scores for us.”

Much will depend on Scott and Easley. The pair showed brilliance at times last year, but there were other moments in big games when they disappeared.

“This is the youngest backcourt I ever had at Neumann-Goretti, in fact, I don’t think I ever put the ball in a starting sophomore’s hands before this year,” Peterson said. “A lot of our success will depend on how Amaya and Carryn play. I trust them. I believe in them.

“I tell them all of the time that I’m handing those two the keys. They’ll drive the offense. Mij really taught both of them well. The leadership will come as a group.”

The 2021-22 team formed as the season progressed. The Saints, circa 2022-23, enter this season far more sound.

“I learned from last year that I have to step up and be more of a leader, and step up in big games,” Easley said. “I know I’ll have to be more of a floor general when it comes to getting my teammates involved and I know I’ll have to score more for us to win.

“There were times last year, I’ll admit, that I wasn’t prepared. You learn. I think we can three-and-three, and that means winning the Catholic League, District 12 and the state championship again. We were counted out last year and I know we’ll be counted out this year, too.

“I know we can win a state title again. I plan on shooting way more.”  

If there is one player who could emerge is Barnes, who according to Peterson has a great shooting touch and will be counted on to score.

The Saints will be moving up to Class 4A this season, which means dealing with Archbishop Carroll and Lansdale Catholic.

“We’ll approach everything the same way,” Peterson said. “That will never change.”

Like winning.

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here .


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