Berks girls hoops notebook: Herb closes on milestone, Spartans defense, and more
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Berks Catholic senior Caraline Herb could become the 138th Berks and fourth Berks Catholic girl to surpass the 1,000-point threshold when the Saint play Reading High Tuesday night.
Herb sits at 983 career points; she has scored 277 this season and is averaging 14.6 points per game.
Former Berks Catholic girls to score 1,000 include Devon Merritt (1,730), Dejah Terrell (1,290), and Caroline Reedy (1,053), who reached the milestone last season.
Sue Wright (1,256), Karen Yeasted (1,236), Adelle Schade (1,180), Meg Stitzel (1,089), Rachel Skolny (1,069), Peggy Dugan (1,061), Erin Voelker (1,058), and Kristin Yeasted (1,042) scored over 1K for Holy Name.
Diane Trout (1,372), Krissy Wrobel (1,263), Erin Hurleman (1,235), Kelly Krawczyk (1,212), Kelly Wrobel (1,111), Carolyn Piasecki (1,056), and Alicia Yapsuga (1,032) hit the mark for Central Catholic.
Only one other current Berks girl has scored 1,000 points: Fleetwood senior Alexis Hess has 1,358 points, fourth in Tigers history. Hess passed Lauren Lister (1,294) this season and trails Katie Madenford (1,510), Jill Henne (1,516), and Donna Werner (1,704).
Here are the next Berks girls in line chasing 1,000 career points:
Exeter junior Grace Reedy (820); Gov. Mifflin seniors Shakyla Mayo (804, 88 at Muhlenberg) and Anyah Ortiz (737); Kutztown senior Ky Brantley (706, 235 at Berks Catholic); Oley Valley junior Morgan Snyder (612); Brandywine Heights sophomore Addison Benner (610); Wyomissing sophomore Amaya Stewart (530); and Oley Valley junior Ryanne Wheeler (520). Brantley is injured and won’t return this season.
Passing the legend
Berks Catholic girls basketball head coach Bob Birmingham surpassed the late and great Lloyd Wolf with his 627th victory earlier this month.
He passed Wolf’s win total with the Holy Name boys in a 63-28 victory over Twin Valley Jan. 17 at Wolf Gymnasium.
Birmingham is in his 34th season as a head coach after coaching at Holy Name for 22 years before taking over as Berks Catholic’s head coach after the merger in 2011. He has a 631-301 record.
The Saints are 9-0 in Berks I and 14-5 overall this season.
Birmingham played for Wolf, who coached at Holy Name for four decades and went 626-381.
State-ranked Spartans
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review had Wyomissing girls basketball ranked as high as No. 4 in its weekly state rankings this season.
The Spartans reached No 4 in Class 4A on Jan. 10 but have since dropped out of the rankings. Wyomissing started the season with 14 consecutive wins before losing two of its last five games, to Middletown and Bishop McDevitt.
The current Class 4A rankings are:
- Lansdale Catholic (12-1, District 12)
- Punxsutawney (13-0, District 9)
- Blackhawk (14-1, District 7)
- Scranton Prep (12-1, District 2)
- Delone Catholic (15-1, District 3)
The top-ranked teams in other classifications are: Cedar Cliff (6A), Archbishop Wood (5A), Lancaster Catholic (3A), Greensburg Central Catholic (2A), and Williamsburg (A).
Stingy ‘D’
Wyomissing deploys the best defense in the Berks Girls League, allowing only 28.5 points per game.
The Spartans have held five opponents under 20 points, including Antietam, which it limited to two points and zero field goals made in a 56-2 win.
Wyomissing’s stingy ‘D’ is followed by Brandywine Heights (29.5 points allowed per game), Oley Valley (31.1), Wilson (34.2), and Fleetwood (37.1) as the top Berks defenses.
The Spartans and Berks Catholic are currently the only Berks teams that would qualify for the district tournament if the season ended today.