Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Mid-Atlantics Sports' Makenna Hartman looks to the net by Clearfield's Hannah Glunt.

HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Blair Regional YMCA has held a girls basketball league for more than 40 years, and while the setup and rules have changed over the years, one of the unique staples of it has been the opportunity for high school teams to challenge alumni teams — many of which feature players currently or fresh out of playing at the college level.

“These alumni teams in general are the most physical teams we see all year long,” Penn Cambria coach Josh Himmer said. “It really helps our mental game down the road when it comes to the regular season. I love playing the alumni teams. Until this year, we had not had good success against the alumni teams, but this makes us 3-1 against them this year. You can really see it’s helping the girls be tougher mentally and physically.”

Success against the alumni teams likely means Penn Cambria — which nearly won a District 6 championship last season — is likely a team to watch out for this high school season.

The Lady Panthers took on CNB Bank on Tuesday — a team with recently graduated Altoona star Lanie Wilt and IUP graduate Megan Smith, who holds IUP’s single-season point record at 625 points.

Just seconds into the game, a Penn Cambria guard drove to the basket and crashed to the floor after some heavy contact. But she brushed herself off, made the free throws and the Lady Panthers ended up winning the game, 53-50.

“They have great tradition down here. The competition level down here is second to none,” Himmer said. “We went down to West Virginia at WVU, and the competition here is 10 times better than it was down there.”

Two high school teams that have played in the league recently and are competing again this summer, Bishop Guilfoyle Academy (Wolford’s Gearhart) and Berlin Brothersvalley, won PIAA championships in March. Another, Penns Manor, made the PIAA semifinals.

“I remember when I played at Altoona, we used to get really excited when we played teams like Mitch Grace (Construction), because we knew how good those girls were,” said Bishop Guilfoyle Academy coach Kristi Kaack, who is also a player for CNB Bank’s alumni team. “We wanted a crack at them to see if we could ever beat a team like that. I know that as a high schooler, I used to take pride in that. Now, it’s flipped. When I’m playing against younger kids, I’m trying to talk to them during the game and encourage them to help them get better. I’m not out there trying to win games anymore. We’re just trying to help the youth grow in their game.”

Another player for CNB Bank, former Juniata Valley girls basketball coach Rachelle Hopsicker, got her Lady Hornets into the league around the time they played in back-to-back PIAA championship games.

“Our goal was always to get in there, but we didn’t have the opportunity,” Hopsicker said. “We didn’t have enough kids to drive that far or enough kids invested all summer long. Once we got in there, that was kind of part of the whole timing that helped us — we got in around 2016 — and that’s when we really started playing well.”

While Hopsicker got her team into the YMCA league, she decided not to coach it — at least not directly.

“I always wanted to compete against my girls,” Hopsicker said. “I never coached my girls instead of playing. I would play against them so I could knock them around a little bit too. I know that being in this league in particular, it’s very physical and very different from what they allow in high school, but you play the game. A lot of the alumni don’t just play against the teams, they kind of coach as they play.”

The league and the competition doesn’t always lead to state championships, but for teams like Tussey Mountain and longtime coach Todd Gates, there is plenty of value even if it just leads to one more regular season win.

“It has absolutely benefitted us,” Gates said. “I have had some girls that got exposure by people that were here at the games. Girls got recognized or made all-star teams, things like that, because they played in this league.”

Tussey is one of the smaller schools that participates, and the Lady Titans have just one win this season.

“We don’t come here expecting to win,” Gates said. “But, they get better by seeing what other teams are doing. That’s the whole reason we keep coming back to get pounded every year.”

When Gates got Tussey Mountain into the league, the Lady Titans saw immediate dividends.

“It was in 2009,” Gates said. “We went to the Elite 8 in the state that year. We wanted to get into it because of the competition. You played 24 games — a whole season back then. It’s tough to get kids into an open gym during the offseason, but they will come to a game. It’s a way to get everyone together and play together.”

During Penn Cambria’s win over CNB Bank, another alumni player — Casey (Shoup) Wilt — suited up for CNB. Because Altoona head coach Chris Fleegle was away on vacation, Wilt, an assistant with the Lady Lions, shifted to Altoona’s bench — still wearing her CNB uniform — to coach Altoona against her own team in the second game of a doubleheader.

“Alumni have really helped shape this Y league,” Wilt said. “When it first started, Division I players were allowed to play and compete against high school players. NCAA regulations changed that, but it creates good habits for the younger kids who are working on their skill set to bring them in and make them work to get better.”

Wilt sees the value for both the high school players and the alumni.

“For the alumni, it’s a great opportunity to have that camaraderie and continue to play with either who you played with in high school or college,” Wilt said. “A lot of times, our younger alumni teams like Lock Haven and IUP provide a great challenge for the high school teams.”

Kaack, who has coached BG to back-to-back state titles and three championships since 2021, said her teams are better because of the competition from both the high school teams and alumni teams throughout the summer.

“It’s a credit to the Y for creating it,” Kaack said. “It’s a very unique thing. I think for the girls, you have some young Division II players that are coming back and playing that are helping our kids so much. We can help them grow so they can see what the next level looks like. I think the physicality that the alumni teams bring, we welcome that to prepare our kids for next-level play too.”

And having that chance to do it with nearly a full high school team is an opportunity that is hard to come by in the offseason, especially with players spread thin with summer jobs, AAU and playing other sports.

“It’s tough to find competition in the summer outside of AAU,” Hopsicker said. “Granted, my kids played all summer with their AAU teams, but we didn’t get to play together and get better until we played in the YMCA league. Those were important games when we could get the kids together. We weren’t out to win the league, but we would get kids that wouldn’t get as much experience during the season into the games, challenge them, and it built their confidence.”