York's Krissinger puts leadership skills to work against St. Francis
York junior Sara Krissinger has plenty of experience being a team captain but not playing varsity girls basketball.
A varsity call-up for last season's playoffs, Krissinger now is a key newcomer and co-captain with senior Matty Stark.
"I've been a captain my freshman and sophomore year," Krissinger said. "I love being a leader. I love talking. It's fun and I like Matty, too, so I think that's awesome."
In Monday's season opener against St. Francis, Krissinger was determined to bring that leadership to the court.
After a scoreless first half the 5-foot-10 Krissinger exploded for a game-high 15 points to help the Dukes remain in control for a 41-27 victory in the first round of the York Thanksgiving Tournament's Green Division pool play.
Both teams were regional finalists last season but neither had a full-time returning starter in action Monday.
"Having five new starters this year is tough, but like (York coach Brandon Collings) has said we're pretty inexperienced but super athletic," Krissinger said. "It's really fun because I've played with these girls since eighth grade. We've got chemistry, but we've just got to figure it out as a varsity team."
York senior Kathleen Levins added 7 points and 9 rebounds, and sophomore Kaitlyn Kjome and junior Bridget Los each had 6 points.
St. Francis senior Madison Wisted, who missed all of last season with an ACL injury, had 11 points, and junior Ashley Sullivan had 10 points with two 3-pointers despite foul trouble.
Sullivan's second 3 cut the deficit to 32-24 with 1:53 left. York sophomore Megan Juneman answered with two free throws, Krissinger drove the lane for a three-point play and Los blocked a shot and converted a fastbreak layup on the other end to open a 39-24 advantage.
"We're young, we're inexperienced, but we're better than we showed tonight," Collings said. "We defended hard. They run a tough offense to defend. There is still a lot of good to take from it."
The Spartans began the game hitting their first two shots but then didn't score again until Wisted's free throws to close to 13-6 with 5:58 left until halftime.
"We just got stagnant on the offense. We've got to run our play," St. Francis coach Sandy De Craene said. "The more flow to our offense, the easier our shots are coming. We've got to be more patient. We don't have a lot of tall people."
Stark, York's lone non-senior starter last season, will not return to action after suffering her third torn ACL in the spring. Senior Kiah Rufus, last season's sixth man, is out six weeks recovering from a stress fracture.
Krissinger's second-half outburst was encouraging, especially after jamming her finger in the second quarter. Krissinger's inside basket off a rebound and pass from Juneman opened York's biggest lead at 26-12 in the third quarter.
"Just getting her going, that was our halftime thing. She needs to be our scorer," Collings said. "Sara's amazing. She's one of the hardest workers I've ever coached. She's probably the best leader we've had. She got a little frustrated in the first half, but in the second half she did what she can do. She attacks the basket well."
The Spartans hung tough, especially considering junior point guard Katelin Chaparro, the Spartans' lone returning full-time starter, is awaiting clearance to return after suffering a concussion in practice last week.
Senior Megan Lombardo, a starter Monday, is a returning part-time starter. Junior reserve Shannon Cooney, who had 4 points and 4 steals Monday, left the game with a knee injury in the fourth quarter.
"Basically we had five new starters. I think they did fairly well," De Craene said. "To be down (8) points in the fourth quarter was exciting to see because the potential's there, knowing we're playing tough teams here."