CENTRE COUNTY — St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy girls’ basketball coach Bethany Irwin won her milestone 500th career coaching victory when the Lady WolfPack defeated Greenwood 66-24 at home on Jan. 20, and then she picked up win No. 501 on the 22nd with a 71-34 win over Juniata.
Here’s more on Coach Irwin and the rest of the area’s girls’ basketball action:
St. Joe’s 66, Greenwood 24
It was a special night at St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy on Jan. 20 when the Lady WolfPack defeated Greenwood 66-24 in a home conference game.
It was the team’s 13th victory of the seaso, against just two losses, but the win also marked the 500th career coaching win of head coach Bethany Irwin.
Irwin, who began her coaching career at Bellefonte right out of college in 1990, was also a long-time and very successful head coach at State College High School before she ultimately moved to SJCA.
At State College, Irwin won many Mid-Penn titles and also coached her daughter, Kyla, who was an All-State player who went on to play for the University of Connecticut.
After 23 years coaching the Little Lions, Irwin retired from coaching, but six years later, she heard about an opening at SJCA.
That was in 2022, and 65 wins and 3 Tri-Valley Championships later, the WolfPack is as strong as ever.
“I think that when I started out coaching,” Irwin said, “I never thought that I was going to last this long. When I started in Bellefonte over 30 years ago, I would never have guessed that it would get to here. I just went one year at a time.
“When I started at State College my goal was to establish a program. I ran camps and clinics with 120 kids at some of them and I loved doing that. Getting kids into the gym.”
After her years with SC, with 399 wins, Irwin retired but, as she said, she began to get bored and she heard about the job at SJCA.
“I just went over to the school,” she said, “never thinking in a thousand years that I was going to do something like that, but there were people there and they asked if I want to coach because the position was open.
“And that’s how it started.”
In her three years with the Raiders, Irwin was 37-32 overall, and then at State College she coached from 1994 until 2016. In those years, Irwin’s teams won 399 games and had some exceptional seasons. In 2000, they were 20-6, in 2001 they were 26-2, in 2002 they were 26-4 and in 2003 they were 26-3.
In Irwin’s final season, the Lions were 20-4.
In 2023, Irwin began coaching the WolfPack, and since then the team is 65-25, including this year’s overall record of 14-2.
Wins No. 500 and 501 came last week.
Against Greenwood, the WolfPack broke out to a big 43-8 halftime lead and coasted home from there.
High-scoring guard Naomi Crispin led the team with 28 points in what was the team’s 13th win.
Two days later, against Juniata, the WolfPack put up 49 first-half points in a 71-34 victory.
Crispin again led with 30 points with Lauren Himes scoring 16 and Alexia Luckovich adding 12.
The win was No. 14 for SJCA with games against Newport, away, and Line Mountain, at home, coming up.
Looking back over it all, Irwin was happy with her choices.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” she said. “I wouldn’t change a thing because I surrounded myself with people who had the same vision, who wanted to accomplish the same things.
“I wasn’t going to do this by myself, and I didn’t.”
State College 55, Carlisle 53
The State College Little Lions girls’ basketball team won its 10th game of the season on Jan. 23 with an overtime, 55-53 victory at Mid-Penn Commonwealth foe Carlisle.
State College’s Sienna Wilson led the team with 17 points, and her sister Sheree added 11 as the team barely escaped the 3-12 Thundering Herd.
Earlier in the season, SC had a similar outing against Carlisle, this time at home, in which the Lions also won by a single point, 39-38.
Next up for State College will be an away game at Cumberland Valley on Jan. 29 and then a home game against Williamsport on Feb. 2.
The Lions are presently ranked No. 2 in the District 6-AAAAAA bracket just behind No. 1 Altoona, 15-3.
Mifflin County, 10-5, is No. 3 and Williamsport, 5-11, in No. 4.
Other Girls’ BB Scores:
Jan. 21
State College 43, Central Dauphin East 41
Jan. 22
Huntingdon 56, Bald Eagle 23
Central 66, Bellefonte 22
Bishop Guilfoyle 70, Penns Valley 31
Hollidaysburg 55, Philipsburg-Osceola 18
Jan. 24
Central Cambria 57, Bald Eagle 24
