Juliano steps in as new Lady Mikes coach
Carmichaels鈥� Emma Hyatt makes a shot against Waynesburg Central during last year蘑菇视频 King Coal Lions Christmas Tournament girls championship game at Carmichaels Area High School. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Carmichaels鈥� Kylie Sinn puts up a jump shot against Waynesburg Central during last year蘑菇视频 King Coal Lions Christmas Tournament girls championship game.
Michael Juliano may be a first-year girls basketball coach at Carmichaels but he brings plenty of experience with him.
Juliano is a 2001 graduate of Edison High School in Ohio who went to Waynesburg University.
鈥淚 was a student assistant at the university for a couple years, then later I worked for the university a few years and was a volunteer assistant under men蘑菇视频 basketball coach Frank Ferraro,鈥� Juliano said.
鈥淚 coached at Trinity Christian School in Morgantown for five years, freshmen boys to middle school girls to varsity girls. I spent the last four years at Cameron High School as the varsity girls assistant.鈥�
Juliano inherits a team with three returning starters in senior Kylie Sinn and juniors Emma Holaren and Emma Hyatt.
鈥淜ylie is our lone senior and the leader of the bunch,鈥� Juliano said. 鈥淪he蘑菇视频 very athletic. But we鈥檝e got a pretty nice group of kids with leadership by committee in a lot of ways.
鈥淪ophomore Emy Mejia has a little bit of experience under her belt and has stepped in for us and been a good leader on the floor for us at practice. Mia Ranieri is another junior who brings some experience.鈥�
Juliano will also be looking for key minutes from freshmen Kendall Ellsworth and Sophia Zalar.
Juliano, who is assisted by former Connellsville and Waynesburg University player Avery White, prefers a fast-paced game.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to try to play some good pressure, half-court man-to-man on defense,鈥� Juliano said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to try to play a little uptempo as well, and try and pressure some teams as much as we can.鈥�
The Lady Mikes will again play in Section 3-AA. They are off to a 2-4 start overall and are 0-1 in the section after a 51-25 loss to Chartiers-Houston on Monday. Ranieri scored seven points and Hyatt pulled down eight rebounds.
Carmichaels was scheduled to play road games at Avella (non-section) on Tuesday and at Fort Cherry on Thursday.
鈥淚鈥檓 mostly worried about our team and not looking at the section, really,鈥� Juliano said. 鈥淚鈥檓 concentrating on getting us to play with the style and the energy that I want. The big thing for us is we want to be able to dictate tempo and style, and make other teams play the way that we want to play versus the other way around.鈥�
Juliano has received input from last year蘑菇视频 coach, Ian McCombs, who moved over to fill the boys basketball head coaching position after the retirement of Don Williams.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a pretty solid working relationship since I took over the job,鈥� Juliano said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e talked a good bit as things have gone along, so I feel like I have a pretty good feel for what the girls on the team bring to the table and what they鈥檝e been familiar with in the past.
鈥淭here蘑菇视频 always adjustments. It takes a period of time to become familiar with new coaches and how we want to run things and what we want to do. The girls have done a really good job of buying in early on.鈥�