
It’s been a long time since Kutztown girls basketball has finished with a winning record.
The Cougars' last winning record was in 2009 when they went 14-11 behind top scorer and multi-sport athlete Megan Greiss, who went on to play softball at Jefferson University.
New head coach Jessica Plisko, who's hiring was approved October 7, wants to build a winner in Kutztown and leveraging the skills of her multi-sport athletes will be a big emphasis.
“Initially, the first thing is changing some of the culture and mindset around girls basketball at Kutztown,” said Plisko, who teaches biology and chemistry at Kutztown. “Kutztown is known for having girls who are athletes, but maybe not basketball players. We want to try to get them to channel their athleticism and competitiveness, not just at soccer, softball, and field hockey, but also on the basketball court.”
Plisko became interested in the job when former head coach Jon Escueta, who went 12-54 in four seasons, decided to step down earlier this fall.
Plisko, a Lackawanna County native, had spent every winter since she was 11 involved in some aspect with basketball. After taking one year off last season, she is now jumping back in.
“Enjoying life in winter beyond basketball was nice for a little,” Plisko said. “When the opportunity at Kutztown came up, just knowing I had been there four years, knew the people and community, and I really got to know the kids, it felt like a good time for me to jump back in.”
Plisko grew up in Moosic, Pa., and starred on the basketball court at Riverside High, scoring over 1,000 points and winning a District 2 Class 2A championship in her senior season in 2006.
She played in college at Wilkes and Penn State Scranton before starting her teaching career at her high school alma mater.
Plisko started her coaching career with the freshmen and JV teams at Abington Heights from 2012 to 2015. From 2015 to 2021, she was a JV assistant coach at Scranton Prep. She also coached at the AAU level with NEPA Elite for two summers starting in 2015.
In 2021, she moved to Kutztown for the teaching opportunity and to find a home with her boyfriend, who is from Pine Grove. Kutztown’s small-town feel is similar to Moosic, she said, except for one part.
“It felt like a small community and home away from home, very similar to what I am used to [in Moosic], with the exception of all the cows and farmland,” Plisko said. “I was willing to take the move and try something new. I didn’t think I was going to get back into coaching when I moved, but my boyfriend was a coach with the Pine Grove boys and I was his assistant for one year [during the 2021-22 season].”
Last year she “retired” from basketball, but that didn’t last long. She’s looking forward to building a winning culture with the Cougars, who went 3-19 last season. Being a teacher in the school district has helped in the early stages since she already knows most of the players.
“I've never actually coached where I was teaching before,” she said. “Being able to see the kids every day, there's no get-to-know-you time period. We've been jumping right in and getting to work.”
Plisko said each age group has unique strengths with the seniors possessing leadership qualities and the juniors possessing a bunch of varsity experience, but the strongest adjective was reserved for the sophomores.
“That sophomore class is pretty robust across a bunch of positions,” she said. “Fortunately they were able to get on the floor a lot as freshmen. We have a solid group of about 10-12 kids who have seen varsity minutes. I’m looking forward to building on that. We also have a few freshmen showing up.”
The top four scorers from last season are all returning—and multi-sport athletes—in junior guard Jayden Gehris (6.7 points per game), senior forward Hailey Graham (6.0), sophomore guard Kaitlyn Houptley (5.6), and sophomore guard Jade Fitzgerald (4.9).
Plisko plans to primarily play tough man-to-man and lean on that end of the court as the Cougars build individual offensive skills in practice. The scheme on offense likely won’t run through one specific player and will be designed to put the players in positions to succeed.
The Cougars are hoping the fresh outlook flips the script on Kutztown girls basketball with Ws eventually overtaking Ls in the win-loss column.
Kutztown and Brandywine Heights were the last two schools that needed to fill their girls basketball head coach positions. All Berks County girls basketball coaching positions have now been filled with the hiring of Plisko and Rob Benner at Brandywine.
In other coach shuffling, Conrad Weiser hired Athletic Director Chris Kline after Mark Owens resigned. Twin Valley hired Matt Hahn as its official head coach after he took over in an interim role following the abrupt departure of Doug Myer. Wilson hired Matt Racquet as its head coach following the departure of Chris Gallo.
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