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Little traffic congestion reported this morning

Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball coaches like move to Mohegan Sun Arena

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The first thing Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball fans may want to do is grab a program as they walk through the gym doors.</p><p>Some programs are missing some pretty big names, others are going through a coaching change and the graduation of some long-time reliables have a couple of defending league champions feeling strange.</p><p>No wonder, then, why many coaches left the Wyoming Valley Conference Coaches Media Day on Sunday thinking things will hardly remain the same.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not sure where we&#8217;re at, not sure where we&#8217;re going,&#8221; Meyers coach Chris Gray said, &#8220;but I hope we eventually get to where we want to be.&#8221;</p><p>He could have been talking about half the league.</p><p>Gone from two-time state semifinalist and defending WVC Division 3 champion Holy Redeemer is all-stater Alexis Lewis, who&#8217;s now starting as a college freshman for Iona.</p><p>&#8220;Still think about the kid every day. She&#8217;s a coach&#8217;s dream,&#8221; Holy Redeemer coach Chris Parker said.</p><p>Defending WVC Division 1 and District 2 Class 4A champion Pittston Area was also gashed by graduation, as fast-breaking guards Liz Waleski (now playing basketball for Misericordia) and Allie Barber (a freshman soccer phenom for Bloomsburg) are no longer out in front of the Patriots&#8217; double-trouble attack.</p><p>&#8220;We lost a lot of experience,&#8221; Pittston Area coach Kathy Healey said.</p><p>And Nanticoke Area, the league&#8217;s defending Division 2 champ, lost its leader when junior Riley Klepadlo suffered a season-ending ACL tear while playing on the school&#8217;s soccer team.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a tough break,&#8221; Nanticoke Area coach Alan Yendrzeiwski said. &#8220;She was ready to break out for us, as an individual. It&#8217;s not like we get to red-shirt kids.&#8221;</p><p>Wyoming Seminary was stunned when Marty Mrozinski passed away early last week. Mrozinski, a former coach for Penn State/Hazleton&#8217;s softball and women&#8217;s basketball teams, had replaced Ken Angradi - who left the program and is now assisting Parker at Holy Redeemer.</p><p>Mrozinski&#8217;s sudden death has Sem searching for a new coach just days before the team&#8217;s first scheduled scrimmage against GAR on Wednesday.</p><p>Four other teams will also debut new coaches this season.</p><p>Most notably, Gary Ferenchick will take on his first head coaching job at Wyoming Valley West after serving as the school&#8217;s freshman coach the past nine years. He replaces Paul Appel, who didn&#8217;t reapply when the job was open in the offseason.</p><p>&#8220;I was fortunate enough to get the job, but I&#8217;m really looking forward to it,&#8221; Ferenchick said.</p><p>He&#8217;ll try to keep the Spartans&#8217; penchant of late-season success going, after Valley West played in the 2013 and 2014 District 2 Class 4A title games before making it to the district semifinals last season.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of the kids I do have, I have coached in the junior high level and been very successful,&#8221; said Ferenchick, whose 2012-13 freshmen team won the league&#8217;s Division 1 title and went unbeaten in 2013-14 with a core of current juniors on the varsity squad. &#8220;We&#8217;ve been pretty competitive at the freshmen level the last few years.&#8221;</p><p>New MMI coach R.J. Gilgore will try to make Preppers more competitive after they suffered through a winless league season a year ago. He replaces Patty Medvecky, and brings 18 years of coaching experience to a roster of nine players - up three from last year&#8217;s six-player team.</p><p>New Crestwood coach Ed Stapanski, who replaces Pat Brogan, has the league&#8217;s best inside-outside player to build around in senior all-stater Maddie Ritsick - but she&#8217;s recovering from an ACL tear suffered during the District 2 playoffs in February.</p><p>&#8220;Being new to the program, we&#8217;re getting to know each other,&#8221; Stepanski said.</p><p>Hanover Area coach Tom Gilroy, who will replace Vic Kopko, knows he has a couple of building blocks to work with in seniors Asdone Hooper and Haley Bobos, but is scrambling to get a read on the rest of his team.</p><p>&#8220;We were just hired October 8,&#8221; Gilroy said. &#8220;We just got in the gym.&#8221;</p><p>At some point, they all plan to figure out the road to success. Hopefully sooner than later.</p><p>Because, as Hazleton Area coach Joe Gavio insisted, &#8220;Everybody&#8217;s good.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer coach Chris Parker addresses fellow coaches at the Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball media day held at Crisnics on Barney Street in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_coaches1_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Holy Redeemer coach Chris Parker addresses fellow coaches at the Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball media day held at Crisnics on Barney Street in Wilkes-Barre. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams| For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

New look for some Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball teams