Observer-Reporter Athlete of the Week
Name: Sierra Kotchman
School: Trinity
Year: Sophomore
Sport: Basketball
Kotchman’s week: The Hillers’ shooting guard helped her team to a championship at the Greensburg Salem Tip-Off Tournament. Kotchman made six three-pointers and finished with 23 points in a victory over Saltsburg Friday.
She followed the performance Saturday by scoring 21 points, making all six of her free throw attempts in the fourth quarter, as Trinity defeated Greensburg Salem to win the tournament.
“Her ability to handle the basketball in crunch time situations was really a big part of her success,” Trinity head coach Bob Miles said. “She has the ability to get herself open and she also can create a shot, which is a real nice talent to have as a high school player.”
Freshman sensation: Kotchman stepped into the starting lineup as a freshman last season and flourished. She was an Observer-Reporter third team All-District selection after averaging 12.4 points per game for the Hillers, who reached the WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinals and lost in the first round of the PIAA playoffs.
When teams attempted to key on center Mary Dunn in the post, Kotchman hurt them with her ability to shoot from the outside. Against Hampton in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs, Dunn scored 17 first-half points. The Talbots adjusted in the second half toward Dunn and Kotchman thrived – scoring 15 points to help the Hillers win.
“As a freshman, it was tough at first because of the speed and size of the girls,” Kotchman said. “It was a good experience. It took a while to get used to it, but I’ve played AAU for a few years so I was ready.”
Miles wasn’t surprised by her strong debut. He watched Kotchman play basketball as an eighth grader at Trinity Middle School and taught her during her time in middle school.
He believes the lessons learned during a 25-game season were invaluable to Kotchman.
“Once teams realized what she could do, there was a lot more interest focused toward her and that helped prepare for what is going to come at her this year as far as teams coming out and trying to stop her,” Miles said.
Defense: Trinity returns three starters from last season and the addition of a freshman point guard allowed Kotchman to shift to her natural position of shooting guard.
“She is going to be a scorer, but she has worked hard on the defensive end of the game,” Miles said. “She’s unselfish. She distributes the basketball and that’s two parts of the game that are coming natural to her now.”
Playing in arguably the toughest section in Class AAA, Trinity set a goal to not allow more than 35 points per game. Even if the Hillers are close to that goal, it should produce a good season.
Kotchman spent the offseason lifting weights and running … a lot.
By limiting opposing offenses and pairing with one of the best forwards in the WPIAL in Dunn, Kotchman is confident the Hillers can repeat or surpass last season’s success.
“We are very excited about this season. We have been working really hard in practice to get back to the playoffs,” Kotchman said.
Compiled by Lance Lysowski