WCCC working to rebuild men's, women's basketball programs

The goal of the Westmoreland County Community College men’s basketball team, simply put, is to be competitive.

Then, perhaps, the victories will come.

“We’re getting better in practice,” coach William Tyler Johnson said. “I’m not trying to control too much right now. It’s all just about teaching, having the guys learn through film and practice and having some confidence in them that they’ll get it.”

Both WCCC basketball programs have been through some hard times in recent years; the women’s program was shut down for two seasons — last year in part by covid-19 — and hasn’t yet been able to get up and running, though officials are hopeful of an abbreviated spring schedule.

Women’s coach James Brymn has been conducting practices with a roster of eight players in advance of the team’s scheduled official opener Jan. 12 at Butler County Community College.

“I think we’ll be fine for the second semester,” WCCC interim athletic director Mike Draghi said. “A couple of schools in our region have canceled the entire season. Numbers seem to dictate the challenge. The name of the game is recruiting.”

Johnson’s men’s team, with four graduates of Westmoreland County high schools on an overhauled, nine-player roster, already had played five games heading into this week. But the team hadn’t been competitive in most of them as the program works to get back on track following a covid-19 abbreviated 4-7 season a year ago.

“Our administration is very supportive,” Johnson said. “They know the importance of athletics. I believe the school is going to keep expanding and building.”

That’s seemingly good news for athletics at the school, which competes in a total of 13 men’s and women’s sports in Region 20, Division III of the National Junior College Athletic Association.

WCCC in 2020 celebrated its 50th year and since has expanded to serve nearly 5,000 students at its Hempfield-based flagship campus, near Youngwood, and six other satellite locations.

“The school is drawing people in,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, that will help our teams in their recruiting efforts.”

Through four games, sophomore guard Jakir Hampton was leading WCCC in scoring (26.0 ppg.). Sophomore guard Joel Lonigro, a Greensburg Central Catholic product, was second (14.3).

Others on the Wolfpack men’s team from Westmoreland County schools are sophomore guard Shawn Wilson (Hempfield), freshman forward Dominic Watkins (GCC) and freshman guard Michael Brush (Franklin Regional).

WCCC’s first four losses were by an average of 22.5 points, but the Wolfpack have been gradually improving, Johnson said. Their fourth game, a Nov. 15 matchup against Penn State Greater Allegheny JV, a four-year program, resulted in a 101-97 defeat.

“We’re getting up to our goal of scoring in the 80s and 90s,” Johnson said. “Now we’re looking for our identity on defense. We’ve been putting guys in situations where they’re just not ready yet.”

Following the departure in 2018 of former coach Gene Brisbane, WCCC’s women’s team fell on hard times as Brisbane’s former players defected and the team was left without a suitable roster.

The program has been idled for two of the past three seasons, including last year.

“The girls from last year graduated and we’re finding ourselves literally having to reload,” said Brymn, a former Penn-Trafford girls assistant who enters his fourth year at WCCC having coached in just one season (3-15 in 2019-20).

Brymn said he’s expecting the women’s team to begin play in mid-January following the postponement of its first eight games.

“I’ve never had a repeat class so far,” he said. “I think we’ve turned the corner, though. It was difficult to recruit for this season. I prefer to recruit local kids, and I plan to do that first before possibly adding some supplemental pieces from the outside.”

Four players from Westmoreland County high schools are included on the Wolfpack women’s roster: Angel Kelly (Franklin Regional), Chloe Willochel and Keagen Hood (Latrobe) and Lexi Stanik (Mt. Pleasant).