Brandywine Heights senior Addison Benner should be a familiar name; she’s No. 2 on the Berks County girls basketball active career scoring list behind Wyomissing’s Amaya Stewart.
The Benner name is about to get even more prevalent on the hardwood in Mertztown.
Rob Benner, Addison’s father, was officially approved as the Bullets’ new girls basketball head coach on October 7.
“We’re going to implement lots of pressing, five-out on offense, sneaky inbounds plays to get some points,” Rob said. “It’s going to be a fun, team atmosphere. I think the girls are going to be energized and really enjoy it.”
Rob was an all-division player in high school at New Hope-Solebury in Bucks County before attending Delaware Valley University, moving to Berks in 1992, and settling in the Brandywine Heights school district in 2015.
Rob works full-time at The Benner Deer and Fence Company in Mertztown, but has been involved in the youth basketball scene with coaching stints for multiple local AAU programs and with Brandywine Heights’ middle school team the past two years.
Erin Benner, Rob’s wife and Addison’s mom, coached the middle schoolers with her husband and will join his staff at the varsity level.
“We enjoy it,” Rob said. “It's a lot of fun. We're trying to bring speed back into girls basketball. Good, fundamental basketball, but yet fun basketball. We don’t like to slow it down. The girls seem to enjoy that. It should be a fun season for us.”
Rob, Erin, and Addison, who fittingly goes by “Turbo,” won’t be the only Benners tasked with getting the Bullets back to playoff basketball after missing out last year despite a 14-8 overall record.
Sophia Benner, Addison’s sister, is expected to make an impact on the varsity team as a ninth grader and gives her parents a reason to stick around at the head of the bench for a while.
“We’re not just going to focus on our own kids; we are going to focus on everybody,” Rob said. “We're gonna stick with it for at least another year and see what happens, possibly even longer than that, quite possibly four years, because Sophie is quite a good player. We want to help her develop.”
Rob is bringing in assistant Storm Hutchinson, who has worked on the Albright boys basketball staff, and is in talks with another joining his staff from the Allentown area soon.
Rob replaces Jason Bieber, who is now Fleetwood boys’ head coach and won the only state title in Berks girls basketball history with Boyertown in 2017.
Bieber went 29-17 in two seasons with Brandywine after taking over for Don Vinciguerra, who in his final season led the Bullets to the county, district, and state playoffs for the first time since 1980.
Brandywine did not reach that success the past two seasons even with high expectations and many experienced players returning. They won Berks IV two seasons ago before early losses to Reading High in the Berks playoffs and Pequea Valley in the district playoffs. Last season, the Bullets finished second in Berks IV behind Oley Valley and didn’t qualify for any postseason play.
Oley Valley graduated over 60 percent of its scoring with the graduations of Morgan Snyder, Dana Messner, and Ryanne Wheeler, so the opportunity is there for Brandywine to win the division.
“We are going to do our best to take care of that business and I believe we have the pieces [to do so],” Rob said. “Not making counties last year was a let down.”
New players need to step into larger roles as four Bullet starters need to be replaced in Dana Wartzenluft (7.1), Olivia Moyer (7.0), Avery Potteiger (6.4), and Grace Potteiger (2.8). They’ll also need to replace key bench contributor Devra Longacre, who will not be playing her senior season after securing a paid internship.
“It’s a big loss,” Rob said. “Those kids were great. It’s going to be tough to fill those shoes. If we have girls who are willing to do the defensive work, I think we’ll be fine.”
The Bullets allowed only 29.7 points per game last season, No. 2 in the league behind Wyomissing.
Offensively, Addison led the way with 14.1 points per game. Key contributors Jenna Crist (3.9 ppg in 21 games last season) and Laura Stoudt (1.8 ppg in 18 games) also return with a likely increase in minutes. Sophia and junior Kamryn Henry, who didn’t play last season after suiting up her freshman year, will also have significant roles.
Rob also mentioned an exchange student from Italy will be suiting up for the Bullets.
Brandywine’s new head coach said a 5A school from Scranton recently agreed to play the Bullets and increasing the schedule to 22 games should help in the district power rankings. Ultimately, the goal is to win the division, compete in the Berks playoffs, and qualify for districts. Maybe another state playoff appearance will be the end result.
“We want to get the gym packed again and see what happens,” Rob said.
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