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Now coaching, Williams helping PC program

01/08/18 By Gary M. Baranec Penn Cambria girls head coach Keith Saleme chatting with assistant coach Alli Williams Monday before the start of their game with Forest Hills

As a student-athlete and professional basketball player, Alli Williams left no stone unturned.

During an exemplary high school career at Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic, Williams scored 1,756 points and amassed more than 800 rebounds in leading the Lady Marauders to three PIAA Class A state championships in four seasons from 2007 to 2010, and she was named the state’s Class A Player of the Year in both her junior and senior years.

Then it was on to Saint Francis University, where Williams scored 2,170 career points to place herself second only to Jess Zinobile on the school’s all-time women’s basketball scoring list, while finishing third all-time in career rebounds with 1,157. She also graduated with highest honors with a degree in psychology.

Williams tried her hand at professional basketball in Europe for the past three years, playing in Greece in 2015, Germany in 2016 and Luxembourg in 2017. While playing in Luxembourg, she helped her team win the First Division championship last May.

Her appetite for playing competitive basketball satiated by the Luxembourg championship, Williams, now 26, has returned home to pursue a Master’s of Business Administration degree at Saint Francis, and she is spending this season as a volunteer coach with the Penn Cambria High School girls basketball team.

“I’m done (playing basketball),” Williams said recently. “We won the championship in Luxembourg, and I kind of felt satisfied with my playing career. I figured that it was time to be home with family and friends.”

Williams believes that the Penn Cambria coaching job, which is a volunteer position, is a good fit for her.

“I’m really glad that I’m doing this,” Williams said. “It’s perfect for me.”

Williams shrugged off the idea that her accomplishments on the basketball court establish her as a role model for the Penn Cambria players.

“I don’t know if they remember me since I’m a lot older than them,” Williams said. “If they did, that would be nice.”

Williams wants the players to learn more about the game of basketball than what can simply be gleaned by bottom-line wins and losses.

“There’s not really anything in particular that I am teaching on the court,” Williams said. “There are a lot of life lessons that can be taken from the game of basketball, and I want to help instill values as well as basketball knowledge. I just want to be a good teacher to them, and to make sure that they’re getting a lot out of the game.”

Both Penn Cambria girls basketball coach Keith Saleme and senior guard Lexi Strasser believe that Williams has already been a positive influence.

“Alli has been a great asset to our program,” Saleme said. “It’s only been a few short months, but the positive energy that she brings to the team every day is very evident. From a coaching standpoint, she is very eager to learn and contribute.

“Due to her past experiences, she has a unique gift of communicating many aspects of the game to the younger girls. Alli has excelled at all levels throughout her basketball career, which makes her an invaluable resource. She relates very well to the girls and takes initiative to share her skills and knowledge with the team.”

Strasser said that the players all admire Williams.

“The players definitely look up to her,” Strasser said. “She is a good role model for us. She’s definitely easy to work with, and she’s relatable to us.”

Although Williams doesn’t give herself a lot of credit for dispensing basketball knowledge, Strasser does.

“I’m more of a shooting guard,” Strasser said. “But she’s taught me a lot about driving to the basket and going in for a solid layup. She really knows what she is talking about. She has us do drills that are like game situations. She played as a forward, but she works with the guards really well.”

Williams — who said she plans on getting into coaching and/or sports marketing after finishing up her masters degree in May 2019 — is also adept at teaching the intangibles of the game to the players as well.

“Obviously, in a practice setting, Alli brings different ideas for fundamental drills and conditioning,” Saleme said. “In game situations, she relies on her past experiences to share ways of handling adversity and teaching mental toughness.”

Along with all that, Williams was culturally enriched by having played competitive professional basketball for three years in Europe.

“It was awesome,” Williams said of her tenure overseas. “I’m really glad that I got to do it. I was pretty fortunate to be able to play basketball for a couple extra years and to travel pretty much everywhere in Europe when I was over there.”

Saleme invited Williams — whose father, Daryl, is a golfing buddy of Saleme’s — to be a guest speaker to young students at Penn Cambria’s elementary basketball camps in the summers.

“From there, we have kept in touch, and I became aware that she would be back at Saint Francis this year working on her master’s degree,” Saleme said. “I knew that she would be a great fit, and I extended the offer for her to help (Penn Cambria’s basketball) program.”

Williams, who is quite familiar with championships herself, hopes that she can help coach the Penn Cambria girls to one this winter.

“I just want to see the team do well, and a District 6 championship is a goal for this team this year,” Williams said. “That would be icing on the cake.”

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