By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
The Dunmore Lady Bucks return their seven-player rotation from a highly decorated 26-1 team and, in a scary thought for opponents, those returning players appear to be getting better.
Established all-state players and future National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I performers Moriah Murray and Ciera Toomey lead the way. Murray, a junior guard, is already verbally committed to Drexel University. Toomey, a 6-foot-3 forward, enters the first game of her sophomore season with nine Division I offers already in place.
“Last year, we had a pretty young team, especially with the emergence of Ciera Toomey, but she was only a freshman,” said Ben O’Brien, who has already moved past 300 career wins in 12 seasons. “She’s dramatically improved this year from last year and she certainly was dramatically improved from the beginning of last year to the end of last year.
“I’ve seen really big jumps from Ciera in particular and I think each of our players, as they’ve gotten a little older, a little wiser, a little stronger, a little more skilled, have all improved.”
That includes Murray, who is already a two-time, first-team, all-state selection and last season was runner-up for Class 3A state Player of the Year.
“Moriah works harder than just about anybody, so she’s always getting better,” O’Brien said, “and I think that’s safe to be said about a lot of our players.”
One distinct feature of Dunmore’s 2019-20 team was the consistent spark guard Anna Talutto, now a senior, provided off the bench.
O’Brien thinks another small, but energetic guard could double up that trend this season.
Cadence Lewis saw a lot of playing time as a freshman last season, but not nearly to the extent that Talutto figured into each game.
“I’m looking forward to seeing Cadie Lewis play this year,” O’Brien said. “She’s one of our hardest workers and I think she has also improved dramatically.
“So, I suspect and I’m hoping for, a lot of the spark Anna Talutto was able to provide us off the bench, we will also now get from Cadie Lewis as well. She has earned that right through her hard work to really be part of our mix.”
O’Brien said that started to take place for Lewis last year in the district final and state games.
Dunmore followed up an unbeaten championship in Lackawanna Division 3 by winning another District 2 Class 3A title and earning a spot in the state quarterfinals before the tournament was shut down at that point because of the coronavirus.
Three more veterans of Dunmore’s established success again join Murray and Toomey in the starting lineup.
Junior guard Mia Blume was a second-team division all-star choice by NEPABasketball.com.
Senior forward/guard Elisa Delfino and guard Alexis Chapman have been a part of many Dunmore victories after working their way into prominent roles as freshmen on a veteran team.
Sophomore guard Anna Pasewicz, a tough defender is also making progress toward becoming a bigger part of the rotation off the bench.
The postseason challenges could be more difficult for Dunmore, which despite a Class 3A enrollment, was moved up to Class 4A by the PIAA for the next two seasons. The PIAA did so because of the combination of two transfer students (both junior varsity players last season) on teams that had state playoff success.
The Lady Bucks played in the 2019 state Class 3A championship game where they suffered their only loss of that season.
