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Labor of love: Glen Lyon women look to return WWII letters to kin

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Penn State headed to Orlando to face Kentucky in Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The man in charge has changed.</p><p>For Nanticoke Area, the goals in girls basketball remain the same.</p><p>Nobody knows that better than Ed Grant, a former player on Nanticoke Area&#8217;s boys team who who spent the last few seasons as a defensive guru for the Trojanettes before being elevated to head coach this season.</p><p>&#8220;If you have the aspiration to be a head coach, this is the place you want to be,&#8221; Grant said Sunday during the Wyoming Valley Conference Girls Basketball Media Day at Norm&#8217;s Pizza.</p><p>He&#8217;s among seven new coaches who will be leading WVC programs this season.</p><p>During the WVC Boys Basketball Media Day at Patte&#8217;s Sports Bar, it was announced four teams will be changing head coaches this season.</p><p>Dwayne Kalinay will guide Lake-Lehman, Sean Miller takes over at Northwest, Anthony Macario will lead Wyoming Area and former Wyoming Area coach Pete Moses takes the reigns at Wyoming Seminary.</p><p>On the girls side, Grant will join Tunkhannock&#8217;s Amanda Golden and MMI Prep&#8217;s Vincent Vella as new bosses with their teams.</p><p>Grant&#8217;s place for seven of the past nine seasons has been right next to Alan Yendrzeiwski, who guided Nanticoke Area to three straight WVC titles, a District 2 title and berths in the last three PIAA tournaments before stepping down as head coach to spend more time with his family following last season.</p><p>&#8220;He kind of put me in charge of the defense, almost like a defensive coordinator,&#8221; said Grant, who spent six seasons as a Nanticoke Area assistant, left to coach the Lake-Lehman boys basketball team in 2014-15, spent the following year off, then returned as a Trojanettes assistant in 2016. &#8220;I&#8217;ll be ready to go, in that sense.&#8221;</p><p>Grant helped construct frenetic, pressing defenses that terrorized opponents while forcing dozens of turnovers each game &#8212; fueling the Trojanettes&#8217; District 2 Class 4A title run in 2017 and the final two years of their WVC title three-peat.</p><p>&#8220;I played for Nanticoke, as well,&#8221; said Grant, a role player for the Trojans when they won a WVC boys title in 2003. &#8220;I live in Nanticoke. I know what the community expects. We still expect to compete within our league and hopefully, get in the state tournament.&#8221;</p><p>Grant is one of three new coaches who will be commanding a WVC girls program in 2018-19.</p><p>Golden will take the reigns at Tunkhannock and Vella will be the new girls coach at MMI Prep, as both will try to establish a sense of consistency, and respect, at two programs that have struggled to find winning seasons over the past decade.</p><p>Grant will have no such trouble at energetic Nanticoke Area, although the heart of the team&#8217;s victory runs over the past four seasons has graduated.</p><p>Still, the Trojanettes are hoping to upend Holy Redeemer, which won a playoff with Nanticoke Area for last season&#8217;s Division 2 title, and become involved in a first-time overall WVC championship playoff that will pit the league&#8217;s three division winners and a wild card team in a postseason tournament for the first time.</p><p>&#8220;Everybody&#8217;s working hard,&#8221; Grant said. &#8220;Our kids totally understand the tradition we&#8217;ve built in our program.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Coaches from the Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball teams gathered at Norm&#8217;s Pizza in Wilkes-Barre on Sunday for the league&#8217;s annual media day. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_coaches4_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Coaches from the Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball teams gathered at Norm&#8217;s Pizza in Wilkes-Barre on Sunday for the league&#8217;s annual media day. </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>

Wyoming Valley Conference gets new basketball coaches