Jamie O’ Hare had a break out season a year ago for St. Peter’s. (Kendall Rodriguez)
Christine Kline and Jamie O’Hare haven’t been able to avoid each other during their basketball lives. The talented guards had fierce battles on dueling youth teams growing up, played together this summer with the NYC Heat travel team and will begin their second season with each other in the St. Peter’s backcourt.
“The more that we play together the better it is going to help,” said O’Hare, a junior. “We knew this last year. We have been preparing for this. We have been playing over the summer. We are able to read each other better.”
The two combined to form one of the city’s best guard tandems last season, helping the Eagles to their 15th straight CHSAA Staten Island title, a trip to the CHSAA Class AA state semifinals and a 23-3 record. Kline, a senior who has Division I interest, is a maestro with the basketball. She is able to find open teammates, cut through defenses, knock down open shots and rebound extremely well for someone just 5-foot-5. O’Hare burst on the scene last year. She can score in bunches, is a blur in the transition and is fearless.
“They are so competitive when they play against each other, but then when they play together they have so much chemistry,” senior forward Ashley Motrechuk said “They are really good together.”
They are going to need to be with plenty of inexperience and a lack of size around them. The St. Thomas Aquinas-bound Motrechuk, a starter from last season, is primed for a breakout year. She came on strong down the stretch with big games against rival Moore Catholic and St. Michael Academy. The 6-foot-1 Motrechuk will be in the post more this season, but she can also take the ball outside and shoot it with the best of them.
“I hope so,” Kline said when asked if Motrechuk will turn into a star. “We are going to need the whole season, we are not going to need just stretches. We are going to need it from start to end.”
Added O’Hare: “I think she is what’s going to determine our year this year.”
The Eagles lost plenty of size and experience with the graduation of forwards Catherine Lewis (Colgate), Victoria Jones (Pace) and reserve guard Melanie Johnson (Goldey-Beacom). Lewis provided invaluable leadership and clutch shooting, Jones was a versatile threat and Johnson could play multiple position and knock down the 3. St. Peter’s was a combined 47-7 the last two years.
“It’s very different,” Daggett said. “As much as Chris and Jamie and Ashley played last year, we relied a great deal on Lewis and Jones and Melanie Johnson also. We had three seniors who could play and are playing in college now. So it’s very different.”
Daggett, who is in his 23rd season, will turn to senior guards Kelsey Geisler and Megan Burns to take over the starting roles. Both played sparingly last season, but are excellent defensively, can handle the ball and knock down the open jumper, similar to guard Jackie Passalacqua from two seasons ago.
“I expect them to have big years for us,” Daggett said. “They have to have good years for us to be successful.”
The Eagles have high hopes for sophomore forward Kayla Wilkes, who is coming back from ACL surgery. Daggett said she might have had a starting job if she had not been hurt. Forwards Amanda Marretta and Kelly Otchet also return.
Something that hasn’t left the Eagles in 15 years is the CHSAA Staten Island crown. Daggett’s club will play a grueling schedule that includes games with John F. Kennedy, Murry Bergtruam, University (N.J.) and Shabazz (N.J.) with hopes of getting the team prepared to fend off a veteran Moore Catholic team for that crown.
“It’s pretty much expected, but it’s going to be pretty hard to keep it this year,” Motrechuk said. “But I think we can definitely do it if we all work together as a team and keep progressing.”