New look for Fayette women's basketball

Lemont Furnace, PA - Two years ago, the Penn State Fayette Women's Basketball team played in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National Championship tournament as the host team.

With the 2020-21 season being wiped out because of COVID-19, the team is gearing up for its first game in 20 months, but when head coach Scott Hillen looks around during practice, he only recognizes a handful of faces.

Besides Hillen (in his seventh year as head coach but sixth season due to COVID) and assistant coach Larry Haines, the only other two people still associated with the program are two players: Jtaya Pirl (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville HS) and Taylor McCormick (Laurel, MD/Eleanor Roosevelt HS). 

To make matters worse, Pirl missed the 2019-20 season due to an injury.

"We only have the two players back, and (Pirl) missed a year because of surgery," Hillen said. "When you factor in the COVID year, that is two years, but she seems to be fully recovered from knee surgery and will be a great defensive player for us.  Taylor is back as our point guard, and I feel she is one of the best guards in the conference.  She is a good leader and has a lot on her shoulders this year with us losing a lot of guards."

With so many new players, Hillen will rely heavily on Haines.

"He brings a lot of motivation to the girls and is a great recruiter in finding student-athletes," Hillen said. "He does a great job, especially recruiting out of the state."

Hillen spoke about the newcomers as a whole.

"We have a lot (of new players) that are actually sophomores that missed out on the COVID year," he said. "Some of the players are from out of the state and a few are local.  They have a lot of energy and are enthusiastic.  Most of them are forwards, so we have a little more height this year."

The extra size means Hillen and Haines are tweaking their approach a little bit.

"We were more guard oriented and now we will be more focused on our forwards," Hillen said. "We have more depth at forward than we do at guard.  Rebounding and defense will determine our success.  Execution on offense, with being limited with guards, will be important.  Losing some of the players we had, we have big shoes to fill.  We will be a better rebounding team, but we need players to step up and some things we need to adapt to fit the personnel we have."

Does the new philosophy mean Hillen has set different goals or expectations?  Not a chance.

"My expectations are always the same," he said. "I expect us to compete with everyone.  We are working for a playoff berth and a chance at playing for a championship."

Fayette opens the season on Wednesday, November 5 when they travel to Potomac State College for a non-conference matchup with Garrett County Community College.  Tipoff is set for 5:00 p.m.

For more information on the women's basketball team, go to https://www.psfathletics.com/sports/wbkb/index or follow us on Instagram @fayetteathletics.

Written by Bill Hughes