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WILKES-BARRE — The first thing Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball fans may want to do is grab a program as they walk through the gym doors.

Some programs are missing some pretty big names, others are going through a coaching change and the graduation of some long-time reliables have a couple of defending league champions feeling strange.

No wonder, then, why many coaches left the Wyoming Valley Conference Coaches Media Day on Sunday thinking things will hardly remain the same.

“I’m not sure where we’re at, not sure where we’re going,” Meyers coach Chris Gray said, “but I hope we eventually get to where we want to be.”

He could have been talking about half the league.

Gone from two-time state semifinalist and defending WVC Division 3 champion Holy Redeemer is all-stater Alexis Lewis, who’s now starting as a college freshman for Iona.

“Still think about the kid every day. She’s a coach’s dream,” Holy Redeemer coach Chris Parker said.

Defending WVC Division 1 and District 2 Class 4A champion Pittston Area was also gashed by graduation, as fast-breaking guards Liz Waleski (now playing basketball for Misericordia) and Allie Barber (a freshman soccer phenom for Bloomsburg) are no longer out in front of the Patriots’ double-trouble attack.

“We lost a lot of experience,” Pittston Area coach Kathy Healey said.

And Nanticoke Area, the league’s defending Division 2 champ, lost its leader when junior Riley Klepadlo suffered a season-ending ACL tear while playing on the school’s soccer team.

“It’s a tough break,” Nanticoke Area coach Alan Yendrzeiwski said. “She was ready to break out for us, as an individual. It’s not like we get to red-shirt kids.”

Wyoming Seminary was stunned when Marty Mrozinski passed away early last week. Mrozinski, a former coach for Penn State/Hazleton’s softball and women’s basketball teams, had replaced Ken Angradi – who left the program and is now assisting Parker at Holy Redeemer.

Mrozinski’s sudden death has Sem searching for a new coach just days before the team’s first scheduled scrimmage against GAR on Wednesday.

Four other teams will also debut new coaches this season.

Most notably, Gary Ferenchick will take on his first head coaching job at Wyoming Valley West after serving as the school’s freshman coach the past nine years. He replaces Paul Appel, who didn’t reapply when the job was open in the offseason.

“I was fortunate enough to get the job, but I’m really looking forward to it,” Ferenchick said.

He’ll try to keep the Spartans’ penchant of late-season success going, after Valley West played in the 2013 and 2014 District 2 Class 4A title games before making it to the district semifinals last season.

“A lot of the kids I do have, I have coached in the junior high level and been very successful,” said Ferenchick, whose 2012-13 freshmen team won the league’s Division 1 title and went unbeaten in 2013-14 with a core of current juniors on the varsity squad. “We’ve been pretty competitive at the freshmen level the last few years.”

New MMI coach R.J. Gilgore will try to make Preppers more competitive after they suffered through a winless league season a year ago. He replaces Patty Medvecky, and brings 18 years of coaching experience to a roster of nine players – up three from last year’s six-player team.

New Crestwood coach Ed Stapanski, who replaces Pat Brogan, has the league’s best inside-outside player to build around in senior all-stater Maddie Ritsick – but she’s recovering from an ACL tear suffered during the District 2 playoffs in February.

“Being new to the program, we’re getting to know each other,” Stepanski said.

Hanover Area coach Tom Gilroy, who will replace Vic Kopko, knows he has a couple of building blocks to work with in seniors Asdone Hooper and Haley Bobos, but is scrambling to get a read on the rest of his team.

“We were just hired October 8,” Gilroy said. “We just got in the gym.”

At some point, they all plan to figure out the road to success. Hopefully sooner than later.

Because, as Hazleton Area coach Joe Gavio insisted, “Everybody’s good.”

Holy Redeemer coach Chris Parker addresses fellow coaches at the Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball media day held at Crisnics on Barney Street in Wilkes-Barre.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_coaches1_faa.jpg.optimal.jpgHoly Redeemer coach Chris Parker addresses fellow coaches at the Wyoming Valley Conference girls basketball media day held at Crisnics on Barney Street in Wilkes-Barre. Fred Adams| For Times Leader

By Paul Sokoloski

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Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski