Youth rules for Marblehead girls hoop

The Marblehead High girls basketball team will be the picture of youth this season.
Coach Wayne Hanscom has three seniors returning from last year’s 12-8 team but only one, Mia Bongiorno, was a starter. Hanscom will be counting on a large group of sophomores and a couple of freshmen to help carry the load this season.
?There will be some growing pains, but there are a fair amount of sophomores who got a great deal of playing time and Mia is a really good leader. She’s a real vocal leader. She’s tough and she’s aggressive. I think the two freshmen will help us, too.”
This is Hanscom’s second year coaching the girls? team. Prior to last year, he was the Marblehead High boys coach.
He will be without several key players from last year?s team, including Emily Freedland and McKenna Barrett who graduated. Freedland, who averaged 11 points per game last year, is on the Bates College women’s basketball team.
?We’ll have some lumps along the way, but I do like this team a lot,” Hanscom said. “This is a really solid team as far as being very unselfish.”
Bongiorno will give the Magicians some experience at guard. The other two seniors, Grace McGurren and Elena Fisher, came off the bench last year and played forward and guard, respectively.
Hanscom has no juniors, but the sophomore contingent is showing some promise. Jenny Norcross and Ashley Stiles are both guards and Lyndsay Walker is a forward.
?They all played on varsity and got significant time,” Hanscom said.
Guard Nicole Freddo made varsity as a freshman last year, but was hurt and didn’t play. Abby Settlemeyer, a 5-feet-11 center, was on junior varsity last year. Hanscom also has two freshmen on the team, guards Colby Shea and Maddie Ernst.Marblehead will play St. Mary’s in the 22nd Annual Paul Duchane Girls Basketball Jamboree at Lynn Classical on Dec. 13. The Magicians open their season Dec. 16 at Saugus. They’ll be on the road for their first three games before playing at home