Corley back on bench for Monessen girls basketball
After four years out of basketball and three years as an assistant for the Monessen high School boys team, Major Corley is back where he seemingly belongs.
Corley, who won 458 games, three WPIAL championships and a PIAA championship in 23 seasons at the helm of the Monessen girls basketball program, is back on the bench for the Greyhounds this season.
“I got the fever again, you might say,” Corley said.
The Greyhounds were a powerhouse under Corley, playing for a WPIAL Class A girls championship nine times, and that success carried over into the early tenure of Corley’s replacement, Gina Naccarato, a former Monessen standout.
Monessen went 63-12 in Naccarato’s first three seasons, but the program has fallen on hard times since, winning just 24 games and failing to make the playoffs in each of the past four seasons.
The Greyhounds went 3-18 in 2015 and are off to an 0-3 start this season. Corley knows he has his work cut out for him but the 69-year-old feels he’s up to the task.
“We’re getting better is it goes,” Corley said. “By the time we get to midseason, we should be OK.”
Canon-McMillan senior Aideen O’Donohue was named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-American team.
O’Donohue, a Pitt recruit, helped the Big Macs to two PIAA championship games in her career, winning a state title this season, when she scored 27 goals and had 20 assists.
O’Donahue was one of only two WPIAL players named to the team. Seneca Valley’s Matt Happ was named to the boys team.
They are invited to the All-America banquet in Los Angeles in January.
Ringgold senior Sarah Noll has signed a letter of intent to continue her swimming career at West Virginia Wesleyan.
Noll is Ringgold’s individual record holder in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly, and is a member of the school-record relay teams in the 200 medley, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle. West Virginia Wesleyan’s swimming program competes in the Bluegrass Mountain Conference.
Vivian Allison, a Washington resident and a senior basketball player at Linsly School in Wheeling, W.Va., recently signed a letter of inetent to play next season int he Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference at Mercyhurst.
Allison is a multi-sport standout at Linsly. In basketball, she is a career 1,000-point scorer as a guard. Allison was recently named first team all-state by West Virginia High School Soccer Coaches Association and first team All-Ohio Valley Athletic Conference as a goalkeeper. She had a 39-21-7 career record for three OVAC championship teams.