Jan 25, 2024 4 min read

By Luke Campbell

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

You know when Laura Montecalvo enters the gymnasium.

On gameday, most of the time throughout her 10-year tenure as the Chartiers-Houston girls basketball coach, the noise of her high heels against the wooden court normally announces her presence.

The clacking of the heels typically is accompanied by a blazer and an intense passion for the game as she paces in front of the Bucs’ bench – simultaneously working her team and, of course, the officials.

Montecalvo watches the program she and longtime assistant Brad Scott have built over the last decade blossom again.

The young Bucs, who only have two seniors on their roster, find themselves in a spot they haven’t been for the last handful of years. Five consecutive wins with an average margin of victory nearing 24 points has Chartiers-Houston (8-0, 12-4) with a firm grasp of Class 2A Section 4 lead. With wins over Bentworth tonight and a road game against Washington Monday, the Bucs would clinch the section title.

But don’t believe for one second the return to prominence came easily after back-to-back WPIAL title game appearances in 2017 and 2018 resulted in one district title, a 45-10 record over two unforgettable seasons and runs into the state playoffs.

Montecalvo had to ditch the high heels and lace up a pair of work boots. After all, five starters graduated following 2018, so she knew there was a lot of work that needed to be done.

“I knew we were going to go through a real rebuilding stage,” she admitted. “We were working real hard to just be average. We tore things apart, identified our weaknesses and focused on fundamentals, not even strategy, just to be competitive.”

Average is exactly what the Bucs were for years. They went 8-15 the year after the departure of their entire starting lineup, including the school’s all-time leading scorer in Alexa Williamson, who will be honored tonight during the girls-boys doubleheader.

Season win totals of 12, 10 and 11 followed from 2019 through 2022 as Montecalvo and Scott tirelessly stretched their schedules thin to coach both the varsity and middle school teams in hopes of a brighter future.

“There were some dark days,” Montecalvo said. “I wondered, ‘Am I doing a good job?'” Whatever we learned at the varsity level were things we tried to infuse into our middle school kids to hope they wouldn’t have the same issues in the future. We put in a lot of work and the kids have bought in.”

Pushing all the chips to the middle and simultaneously their free time out the window, the work of Montecalvo and Scott slowly started to pay off.

Chartiers-Houston won 16 games last season and now finds itself atop the section standings on the strength of its balanced youth movement.

Junior Ava Capozzoli leads the Bucs in scoring at 11.2 points per game. Right behind her are sophomores Amelia Brose and Allison Wingard, who average 10.8 and 9.7 points, respectively. Senior forward Mia Mitrik averages seven points and a team-high 8.6 rebounds per game. Junior Ella Richey has added double-digit scoring in multiple games.

“We aren’t quite where I know we can be just yet,” Montecalvo admitted. “I still want more. I’ll always want more. I will always ask for more.”

As her players have changed for the better, the longtime leader of the Bucs has also learned to transform.

“I have had to become a different coach in terms of my patience and that’s because I needed to be patient,” Montecalvo said. “I knew it was about staying the course. We were going to eventually see the fruits of our labor. These kids are strong-minded and have endured a lot. They’ve recognized areas they can improve. They want to know what they need to do better. They have stuck with it.”

The minimal 36.5 points Chartiers-Houston surrenders per game is best in its section and sixth best of the 27 teams in Class 2A. Montecalvo credits the overall intelligence of the team to grasp and execute new concepts like no team she’s had in the past.

“The impact of our stuff just working rubs off on the kids,” Montecalvo said. “The biggest thing is that relationship. The trust that is built over years and years of being consistent with our approach. We’ve gotten better a little bit at a time. It’s the result of three or four or five years of just grinding. I can trust them. They can trust me.”