Girls basketball: St. Bede making changes under new coach Stephanie Mickley

Stephanie Mickley has already made an impression on her players in her first season as the St. Bede girls basketball coach.

“She’s just been building the program in such a positive and different way,” senior Ali Bosnich said. “She’s been positive toward the team, and the changes in the program have helped us build as athletes and basketball players. It’s been really exciting having her here.”

Bosnich said she has enjoyed Mickley’s approach to practice and the team’s morning workout sessions at X-ercise Science.

“It’s been good,” Mickley said about her transition to head coach. “I’m learning about the girls, and the girls are learning about the coaches. St. Bede has been helpful to me acclimating to their program.”

Mickley said the Bruins will play a high-pressure defense with some pressing and a mixture of zone and man-to-man.

“I think if we incorporate the pressure defense we were working on this summer, it’s going to give our girls confidence to put the pressure on, break down the offense mentally and try to capitalize on those mistakes or turnovers to get some easy points,” Mickley said. “Hopefully, that is going to build the confidence of the team that they can score and hang with any team we play.”

Offensively, the Bruins will look to push the ball up the court quickly and score in transition. In the half-court offense, St. Bede will use a lot of movement.

Bosnich will be counted on to score in the paint along with Macklin Brady. Ella Hermes and Kristal DeLaTorre will be among the team’s top perimeter scorers. Mickley said Jeanna Ladzinski and Abby Michels also “can put the ball up.”

“Because we are low on numbers, she has been able to incorporate all of our talents and use all of our abilities on both offense and defense,” Bosnich said. “She’s been changing things up from past seasons. Defensively, it’s not just based on zone or man-to-man. It’s an incorporation of both.

“For our offenses, it’s a lot of movement and incorporates all our abilities.”

The Bruins are low on numbers, but Bosnich said that has been a blessing of sorts as the team has a strong bond.

“We are able to know each other and be able to work with each other really well,” Bosnich said.

Mickley said that while small in numbers, the Bruins have a strong work ethic.

“They are very hard workers,” Mickley said. “They listen. They’re very disciplined. They’re eager to get better. Overall, they worked very hard in the summer to rebuild. I think their hard work is going to pay off.”

The Bruins are hoping their work pays off by finishing in the top three in the Three Rivers Conference East Division — after finishing second last season at 9-2 — improving on last year’s 14-17 record and advancing in the postseason.

“I’m going to have the girls write down some team and individual goals they want to reach,” Mickley said. “They’re a very goal-oriented team, so what they present is what we’re going to run off of.

“I want to get these girls believing they can get past the first game in the postseason. It would be good to get to the regional final or beyond, but we’re going to have to take it one game at a time. My overall goal is for them to improve every practice and every game so come postseason, they’re ready to go.”