Worcester Girls Open with New Coach

BERLIN- Under the helm of a new head coach, Worcester Prep’s girls’ varsity basketball team is expected to make great strides this year, and if a 42-8 shellacking of visiting Wye River Upper School in the season opener last week is any indication, the Mallards are hitting their stride already.

Page Watts, an assistant under former coach Sharon Repass, takes over for Worcester this winter after running the Mallards’ junior varsity program last year. Watts is hoping to build on the success of the program under Repass while adding a few wrinkles of her own along the way.

Last week, the Mallards routed Wye River, 42-8, in the season opener and appeared to have things clicking on both ends of the floor, but the competition will spike up in the coming weeks as the team gets into the meat of its Eastern Shore Independent Athletic Conference (ESIAC) schedule. Worcester will feature a handful of veteran players from last season’s 6-10 team, along with quite a few new faces.

Senior Devon Zorn, who is returning from a season-ending injury last year, and junior Ellie Brown, will serve as team captains. The only other senior on the roster is Anna Pavlos. The other juniors on the roster are Olivia Wilgus and Kayla Baier. Otherwise, Worcester will lean on a flock of underclassmen going forward in the 2010-2011 campaign including sophomores Claire Brown, Alex Bruder, Molly Marshall and Meredith Smith and freshmen Lilly DiNardo, Alison Greer and Kristen Schriver.

Worcester’s next game is a home date with ESIAC rival Salisbury School next Wednesday followed by an away game at Greenwood Mennonite on December 3 and a pair of home games against Salisbury Christian and Saints Peter and Paul before breaking for the Christmas holidays.