Girls basketball: Ava Hatton to lead veteran Putnam County squad

With 1,000-point scorer Ava Hatton returning along with several other key players, the Putnam County girls basketball team is hoping for another successful season this winter.

Last year, the Panthers went 22-10 overall and 8-4 in the Tri-County Conference while winning the conference tournament and playing in a regional championship game.

“This is a group with a lot of experience at the varsity level, so I think our girls know what to expect out of a full varsity season, and this group was kind of battle tested last year,” PC coach Jared Sale said. “We’re hoping that that will give us the opportunity to hit the ground running.

“Coming off a 22-win season last year and bringing back many of our contributors from that team, we fully expect to produce another 20-plus win season. We also feel like we should be able to compete for conference and regional titles this year. It’s early, though, and there’s still a lot to figure out, so we just have to trust the process and continue to move in the right direction.”

Sale said he expects the usual suspects – Seneca and Marquette – will be contenders in the Tri-County along with newcomer St. Bede.

“I think the addition of St. Bede is going to make the top of the conference a lot stronger,” Sale said. “They started to play really well down the stretch last year, so I could definitely see them toward the top of the conference. I think anytime Lilly Craig is on the floor, Marquette has a shot as well. Seneca has proven to be a program that competes at a high level year in and year out, so even though they’ve had a lot of changes since last year, I think it’s hard to not have them in the conversation.”

“Coming off a 22-win season last year and bringing back many of our contributors from that team, we fully expect to produce another 20-plus win season. We also feel like we should be able to compete for conference and regional titles this year.”

—  Jared Sale, Putnam County coach

The Putnam County offense once again will center around Hatton, a two-time first-team NewsTribune All-Area pick who averaged 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game last season.

“I fully expect Ava to be our leading scorer again this year,” Sale said. “The offense will run through her, and she’ll have the opportunity to make the appropriate reads of the defense to create for herself and for others.”

The senior enters the year with 1,001 points and sits 557 points behind the school record held by Tracy Palm.

“It’s not something that is out of reach by any means, but she’ll have to produce her highest points-per-game total of her career this season to get there,” Sale said about the career scoring record.

Senior guard Gabby Doyle (3.6 ppg, 3.3 apg), who was third-team all-conference last year, and senior forward Maggie Richetta (3.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg) also will contribute offensively along with juniors Eme Bouxsien and Maggie Spratt.

“We expect all seven of our seniors to contribute more than they did last year,” Sale said. “We hope to see Maggie [Richetta’s] and Gabby’s scoring tick up a little bit and hopefully get some added offense from juniors Eme Bouxsien and Maggie Spratt.”

Sale expects the Panthers to once again be stingy on defense after leading the area in points allowed last winter, giving up 33.1 points per game.

“We lost Mikenna Boyd, who brought a lot of toughness to that side of the floor, and Gracie Ciucci was our vocal leader on the defensive end of the floor, so there are some voids to fill, but we feel pretty confident that the group we have understands those voids, and we’ve been making sure they’re getting filled,” Sale said. “In the past, we’ve done a great job of limiting teams to one shot per possession, and I think we have the pieces to control the defensive glass again this year, and that’s a big part of keeping teams contained offensively.”