Twin Valley won just four games last year, its lowest win total since 2014-15.
This season, the Raiders are poised to get back to their winning ways and return to the postseason.
“Last year, I’d like to think it was a blip on the radar,” Twin Valley coach Doug Myer said. “We played a lot of young kids last year that maybe weren’t quite ready.”
Twin Valley began last season with seven straight losses and finished 4-18. Despite the drop-off from the team that made the PIAA playoffs in 2021, the young Raiders kept striving to improve.
“We certainly took our lumps, but the energy and the attitude never waivered,” Myer said. “It was tough to take all that losing, but there was not one day where they were not a super, super group to coach.”
Twin Valley already has started to turn things around, opening the 2023-24 season with two dominant wins. The Raiders beat Solanco 46-16 on Friday night and Fleetwood 54-18 on Monday night in non-league action.
“Last year was a year to build us up,” sophomore Hailey Kilgore said. “Winning these two games, it all just helps us in the long run know that we’re going to be a lot better this year.”
The results marked the first time Twin Valley won back-to-back games since February 2022. The 54 points Monday were the most the Raiders have scored since they lost 61-56 to Harrisburg on Dec. 30, 2021.
“It definitely improved our confidence,” senior Collette Lennon said. “It proves that we can do things and we can be different than we were this past year.”
Lennon, a guard, is one of Twin Valley’s six seniors, along with guard Chelsea Hurley, forward Ramaya Andreessen-Wyatt, guard Abby Franks, guard Emma McClune and center Britney McGeady.
“We all work together really well and we communicate,” Franks said. “We always have a family atmosphere.”
According to Myer, the mentality of the six seniors sets the tone for the rest of the team
“That type of team-first attitude, that’s what makes them such an enjoyable group to coach,” Myer said. “They have a lot of heart, too.”
Kilgore, who averaged 10.5 points per game last season as a freshman, is the team’s leading returning scorer. Her 37 3-pointers ranked sixth in the county.
“Defensively, she’s really improved from last year a lot,” Myer said. “She really gets after it. She’s a very aggressive player.”
Through two games this season, Kilgore leads the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game. While she is averaging double figures again, Kilgore said she is focused on getting her teammates more involved on offense this year.
Fourteen Raiders have seen the floor through two games and eight are averaging at least four points per game.
“I want to get our whole team to score,” Kilgore said. “Limiting turnovers and getting my teammates the ball a lot will help with that.”
Twin Valley will host 2023 Berks runner-up Reading High on Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. The Raiders will take on Exeter, the defending Berks II champion, on Jan. 5 at 6 p.m. at home and on Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. on the road.
“We really feel like we have some pretty good momentum right now in the program,” Myer said. “We have kids from every grade, nine through 12, that are contributing (in) every game we play.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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