Madison McHale
Name: Madison McHale
Team: Neshannock
Number: #24
Grade: 12
Height: 5' 7''
Weight: N/A
Position: G
McHale’s versatility keys Lady Lancers

By Andrew Koob
New Castle News

Opponents are finding out the hard way that Madison McHale is tough to stop when she gets the ball.

Give her space off a screen? She can hit the jump shot. Step up and get a hand in her face? She can blow by her defender. Stick a guard on her? She’ll back her down all the way into the post.

McHale’s abilities have frustrated the opposition during the young season as the 6-1 Lady Lancers have looked her way for offensive production.

The Neshannock senior guard has used every tool she has as of late, scoring 36 points in a 59-57 win over Riverside and 30 in a 57-41 victory over Quaker Valley this past week.

McHale’s performance earned her Lawrence County Athlete of the Week honors, an award sponsored by Washington Centre Physical Therapy and selected by the New Castle News sports staff.

The ability to take on any matchup starts with a willingness to play within separate roles, something that McHale has no problem with.

“I’ll go wherever coach tells me to go,” McHale said. “Sometimes I’ll play forward, most times I’m at shooting guard out on the wing. And there are times where I’ll be the point guard if Erin (Warvell) is having a better shooting night than I am or I need to come to the point. It’s playing through adversity, if I get face guarded, my other teammates need to step up and score and do the other things. And they do, I can definitely rely on my teammates to step up when I go through adversity.”

McHale’s contributions come as Neshannock struggles with injuries. Two players, Tayler Grybowski and Stephanie Paras, were injured before the season even began and a third, Marissa DeMatteo, went down in the first game of the year.

“With the injuries we’ve had, Steph and Tayler were two key players last year,” McHale said. “When those two got injured, we needed my sister (Maeley McHale) to step up to the plate and we needed Madison Jones, who came back this year. Once Marissa got hurt, our point guard, it kind of led to Erin Warvell and I to come back to the point and take over ball handling.

“We’ve gone through a lot of adversity, but we only have one loss so far. So I think we’re doing pretty well.”

The offensive output of McHale has turned heads, but it’s her effort on the defensive end that has her coach excited.

“She’s stepped up in ways that I knew she could, but she’s also stepped up defensively this year,” Neshannock coach Luann Grybowski said. “And that’s the thing I try to pound in their heads, you’re going to get nights where you shoot 3 for 15. But there should never be a night where you shouldn’t defend with your best effort. When you do that, and it’s a low-scoring game, you can still come out on top.”

That defense is what McHale had to rely on earlier this year when foul trouble became an issue.

“Starting out this season, it was kind of rough the first two games,” McHale said. “I got in foul trouble a lot and every time I’d go to the bench, coach (Caitlyn) Bleggi would tell me that it was one of those games that I’d have to rely on my teammates. Play defense and do all of the other things because I wasn’t having a good scoring night. I’d only be in there a couple minutes because I was in such foul trouble. That’s what I had to do, just rely on my teammates and do as much as I could in the games.”

Her teammates have certainly stepped up when needed and have brought an energy that has helped lift Neshannock to its current success.

“It works for all of us. If I’m not having a good shooting night, my teammates will step up to the plate. Erin Warvell will knock down shots, Regan Moorhouse plays phenomenal defense and gets steal after steal. It’s the little things that this team can do and that’s how we contribute and that’s how we win games.

“Having three injuries to three major players is not what you want for a team. We don’t have those three players, but we still have the same heart for the game. I don’t know, we just have the mindset that we want to go out and win.”

McHale’s success is reminiscent of some of New Castle’s most prolific girls basketball players, both of whom played under Grybowski with the Lady ’Canes.

“I’ve had two other players that could score inside and out with Lorri Johnson and Jaleesa Sams at New Castle,” Grybowski said. “Madi is an outside threat first and those two players were inside threats first. But she’s so strong and uses her body so well that, when she’s able to post up a guard, she’ll score seven times out of ten down on the block. She just has to keep being smart and doing those same things the rest of the year.

“Those are two of the best that I’ve coached. I don’t know if Madi is there yet as the complete player, both of those kids scored over 2,000 points. Both went big Division I, but they had more size. They were both 5-foot-11 and both were very quick. Those are the major differences, but Madi is a much better pure shooter than those two were from the perimeter.”

*****

The Madison McHale File ...

Position: Guard
School: Neshannock
Grade: 12
Parents: Rob and Jill McHale
Known for: Scoring 36 points in a 59-57 win over Riverside and 30 points in a 57-41 win over Quaker Valley.
Favorite Pro team: Cleveland Cavaliers. “Just because they’re the home team and LeBron (James) is back. It’s a whole big thing.”
Favorite Pro player: Skylar Diggins, Tulsa Shock. “I think she’s a role model on and off the court. I like that about her.”
Future Plans: “Going to Lock Haven to play basketball but I’m unsure of what I want to major in.”
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