Winter sports have arrived in Ellwood City.
Basketball is the most popular sport among the girls for students at both Lincoln High School and Riverside High School. We are doing our Winter Q&A a little different this year and shaking it up with Boys vs. Girls Sports.
We caught up with the athletes of those teams to see what they are doing to prepare for the upcoming rivalries, to offer some perspective on the season ahead and their plans for the future.
This is part one of a two-part series featuring area senior student winter sports. Our Boys Winter Sports Version featuring both Lincoln High School and Riverside High School will be published tomorrow.
But Ladies first …
Gina Carr
Team: Riverside
Grade: 12th
How many years have you have played? I’ve been playing for 9 years
What do you feel is your biggest strength? I think my biggest strength is definitely my shooting
What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part has to be the feeling after playing a good game
Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? I think our biggest rivalry is Ellwood. I think it will be a good game this year
What has your favorite memory been over the years? My favorite memory over the years is when the power went out at our Thanksgiving morning practice freshman year, and we still continued to practice in the dark
What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? My future plans are to go to college to become a teacher. I’m not planning on playing basketball after high school.
Jaelynn Timmerman
Team: Riverside
Grade: 12th
How many years have you have played? 10 years
What do you feel is your biggest strength? I feel my biggest strength is my defensive skills.
What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part is the bond that grows between my teammates and myself.
Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Of course Ellwood is our biggest rivalry. I feel like it’s going to be a pretty exciting game this season.
What has your favorite memory been over the years? My favorite memory from over the years was freshman year on Thanksgiving morning, we practiced with no lights and the fire alarms were broken and continually going off.
What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I plan to attend a 4-year university to study nursing in the hopes to eventually become a nurse anesthetist. Maybe I would play sports for fun in my free time but not at the collegiate level.
Samantha Rosenberger
Team: Riverside
Grade: 12
How many years have you have played? 9 years
What do you feel is your biggest strength? My biggest strength in basketball is my aggressiveness under the hoop and rebounds
What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part is the fast paced action that comes along with the sport. there’s never a down moment and a constant rush of adrenaline.
Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Ellwood City
What has your favorite memory been over the years? I think my favorite memory is singing “deck the halls” going pulling up to away games
What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? After graduation, I’m going to Barry University in Miami, Fl to play softball and study marine biology
Brooke Roth
Team: Lincoln
Grade: 12
How many years have you have played? 8 years
What do you feel is your biggest strength? My biggest strength in basketball is defense
What is your favorite part of it? The friendships that I have gained
Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Neshannock
What has your favorite memory been over the years? When Coach Paul got us Dunkin’ donuts on our way home from one of our games
What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I plan to attend a four-year university and pursue a career as a Physician’s Assistant. No, I will not continue sports after high school
Liz Mihalko
Team: Lincoln
Grade: 12
How many years have you have played? I’ve played since 5th grade so 7 years of basketball!
What do you feel is your biggest strength? I think my biggest strength is my strength and physicality
What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part is the excitement and fast paced feeling of the games
Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Skill wise I think Laurel and Mohawk will be good rivalries but obviously the history behind our school rivalry with Riverside is a big deal
What has your favorite memory been over the years? One of my favorite memories is during my sophomore year when one of our former coaches made the JV team, which I was on at the time stay late to run plays, we were goofing off so our coach threw the basketball as hard as he could at our side hoop and it nearly banked in. The whole team started busting out laughing. We had to stay 10 minutes longer but it was so worth it.
What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I’m still undecided on my future plans but I’d like to keep playing sports even intramurally
Aliya Garroway
Team: Lincoln
Grade: 12
How many years have you have played? I have been playing since 5th grade.
What do you feel is your biggest strength? I feel like my biggest strength is my defense.
What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part of basketball is winning.
Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Neshannock
What has your favorite memory been over the years? My favorite memory was when coach Paul shattered the clipboard.
What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I am going to attend Saint Francis University to study accounting and play softball.
It seems coach Paul needs some anger management therapy.