Varsity Girls Basketball: Poffenbarger looks to make transition from one Varsity to another

By Ben Spector
Winning After MidKnight

                       

For years, Amy Poffenbarger had been coaching the varsity girls basketball team for Middletown Middle School leading the Knights to a host of good playoff finishes in recent history.

Poffenbarger had become a staple of the development for Middletown girls basketball players as in their final year before heading to the high school and stepping onto a bigger stage, Poffenbarger had the task of leading Middletown to success in the Mid Maryland Basketball League and more importantly helping the players adjust to the talent they would be facing in the upcoming four years.

When after seasons of discontent and frustration among the Middletown high School girls basketball teams, former head coach William Miskell made the difficult decision to resign leaving the program at a crossroads for the first time in a long time, a shocking step for a team that won a state championship in 2006 and had made the state finals as recently as 2013.

Poffenbarger was given an opportunity to take the reins of the Middletown team and help the Knights get back to those glory days, an opportunity that Poffenbarger would jump at the chance to take.

Poffenbarger will look to improve on a team that is mixed with talent from last year and players who decided for personal reasons to not pursue girls basketball last year.

The mix of players signifies the crossroads at which the Middletown girls basketball program is at with various question marks surrounding the team and with no definitive idea on what the players will produce on the court.

Even though various question marks a still in play for Middletown, Poffenbarger it appears will have a large amount of talent to play with.

Returning from last year’s team are 7 players all having seen playing time last year on Varsity, something that isn’t widely taken note of but something that is extremely important especially since three of those seven are only juniors.

The stand-out for Middletown will be forward Carly Tolino, a player who has shown the ability at times to dominate games with her impressive and physical inside play if she can manage to stay out of foul trouble for the games.

Tolino is a lacrosse goalkeeper during the spring with a solid commitment to play at University of Maryland-Baltimore County for lacrosse which is a disappointment for various local teams because Tolino would definitely have received offers to play basketball in college if not for her solid lacrosse commitment.

Complementing the senior Tolino is another strong inside presence for Middletown, senior Paige Bussard who has shown an ability to not just be able to plays strong inside and command the boards but also the ability to step outside and sink the outside shots when the need arises.

The underclassmen may be the most exciting part about the Middletown team as the juniors (plus lone sophomore Peyton Weaver) are stocked in untapped talent and potential heading into the season.

Junior Paige Tarleton may be the most exciting of the underclassmen as like Bussard, Tarleton has shown a nose for finding the outside shots and is enticing to a coach not only for her play but also her obvious qualities in operating an offense and playing the quarterback role if is necessary.

One of the most exciting features of this Middletown team is the unknown, with seniors Tori Martin and Sami Main rejoining the team after taking the junior year off.

Before Martin and Main gave up girls basketball they showed talent producing well as sophomores on a JV team from two years ago that makes up the core of the team.

The big question is how quickly main and Martin will be able to knock off the rust and be able to get back in the swing of things.

If they can do it quickly, this Knights team could have more depth than was originally imagined giving the Knights a jump on their opponents from the opening tip of from the opening tip of the season.

The Knights will take on Lingnaore and North Carroll tonight in a tri-scrimmage and will hope to finish off their adaptations to Poffenbarger’s systems before the season opener on Friday.

If that happens it would help the Knights succeed and Poffenbarger secure her ranking as one of the most important figures in the history of the Middletown girls basketball program.