Going through hoops

A new athletic team that wants to make a name for itself has to score victories.

That’s even more the case when the squad is actually an old team getting a fresh start.

The girls’ basketball team at Ss. John Neumann-Maria Goretti High already is thinking Catholic League playoffs — as participants, not spectators.

The athletes are busy with off-season conditioning and summer leagues. For the third year in a row, the Saints — formerly the Lambs — will spend five days in a team camp at Messiah College. The players will depart for the Grantham, Pa., campus Sunday and return Thursday. Teams from Illinois, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia also will join in the event.

"It’s a really good experience for the girls," said coach Chip Reitano. "It’s a team camp, so we play games against top competition."

It’s no summer vacation. Wakeup calls are at 7 a.m., followed by a team breakfast and a morning drill session. Each team will play three games a day, and 11 over the five days.

Senior forward Shonte Skinner has become a pro at the routine.

"It was a little difficult at first, but after a while you get used to it," the North Philadelphia resident said. "You are constantly doing things."

Senior Kelly McGinn, of Front and Hoffman streets, got her first taste of the camp last summer as a junior-varsity player trying to make the varsity cut. Now, with a year of varsity experience, the defensive specialist knows what to expect.

"Some days you’re really up and ready to play, and other days you go right to bed after the games," McGinn said.

This year, six of the 10 girls — including three freshmen — are first-time campers. The group’s youth has prompted Reitano to adjust the game plan.

"It’s going to be a lot different than the last two years when we had a more veteran team," the coach said. "We will have to work more on defense when we get there and see more veteran teams.

"It’s going to be the first opportunity for the younger girls to play with the veteran players. It’ll be interesting to see how they mesh."

Skinner, who averaged 20-plus points per game last season, will have to be a leader as well as a scorer this season.

When she joined Goretti’s team last year, she had just transferred from Martin Luther King High. The Division I prospect is being recruited by Towson State, Highpoint, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan.

"I just have to be a role model," Skinner said. "Whatever I do, they’re going to do. I have to go to practice every day and work hard."

The camp is the perfect opportunity for the players to get acclimated to one another. The girls will stay in the Messiah College dorms.

In past years, seniors occasionally have had to knock on the doors of their younger teammates as a wakeup call. Once the entire team — sleepyheads and all — arrives at practice, the coaches review the daily schedule with the players. Holding an early drill factory, which stresses the fundamentals, usually gets those late risers going.

"The drill definitely wakes them up," Reitano said. "It’s a good way to get the juices going."

The players won’t be wearing their black and gold Saints uniforms until the Catholic League season. Next week, the girls will sport a variety of T-shirts, including those from their trusty old Goretti uniforms and new ones from Geno’s Steaks, which also is helping to cover camp expenses. Messiah College will outfit all 32 teams in the camp as well.

Even before camp, it’s been a busy summer for the Goretti-Neumann team. The Saints play Thursday nights in a high-school league with West Catholic, Merion Mercy and Interboro. The squad entered the week in second place with a 3-1 record. Some of the members commute from family houses at the Jersey shore to make the games. Many of the players also are working out in local gyms.

The all-out commitment is required to shoot for a hotly contested postseason berth in the Southern Division. Last winter, the team made tremendous strides, recording its first winning season in more than two decades.

The Lambs finished 15-9 overall, a dramatic improvement from the 2003 season, when they went 0-12 in Catholic League play.

But Goretti’s 4-8 mark in league play last season didn’t make the cut. The four league wins were the most since Reitano inherited the program four years ago.

Goretti-Neumann will play its first game as the Saints on Nov. 30 against Friends Central and, in December, the group will do something no Goretti team ever did: compete in a national tournament. The Saints will travel to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for the event.

It will be one more stop on what the coach hopes is the road to the playoffs.

"The girls’ program really needs to start going in the right direction," Reitano said. "There are no roadblocks. Everything has to be done the right way if we want to be successful."