Something was different about this Conrad Weiser's girls basketball season from the start.
Yes, the Scouts had a new head coach in Chris Kline, who took over for Mark Owens after 11 years. But Weiser had gone even longer without winning its season opener, which it hadn't won in 12 years.
"The confidence is different this season," senior guard Alex Trevena said. "These last four years we've always been told we have so much potential and we just never showed it. But this year, this is our chance to show who we really are."

Trevena and the Scouts have been building momentum since a season-opening win over Blue Mountain and hit a crescendo Monday night in a 35-30 league crossover victory over Berks Catholic at Wolf Gymnasium.
Trevena, a Kent State softball commit, hit four 3s, scored a game-high 14 points, and chased Berks Catholic's All-Berks guard Madison Langdon around all night in the victory. On a bum ankle, nonetheless.
"I just focus on the little victories," Trevena said. "My teammate goes and makes a layup, I get energy off of that. You just realize how much you work for it and you can't let your energy down."
The Scouts (3-3 Berks II, 10-4 overall) hadn't beaten the Saints (3-3 Berks I, 7-7 overall) since 2015 when both schools were in Berks II.
They matched up four times that season with each team winning twice. Hannah Racis scored 19 points to lead the Scouts over the Saints in the fourth and final game: the District 3 Class 3A semifinals.
Conrad Weiser, which entered Monday with the league's second-best scoring defense, held Berks Catholic to its lowest point total of the season.
"We did a really good job defensively," said senior center Lauren Grabosky, who had a game-high 13 rebounds. "Allowing only 30 points is good. Alex did a great job and our help defense was good too. We practiced it."
Weiser focused its defense on Langdon, the No. 4 scorer in Berks, and were content with other Saints getting open shots. Langdon still finished the game with nine points, six rebounds, and six steals, but the defensive strategy worked for the Scouts.
"We challenge Alex to defend the other team's best player and try to play help defense as much as possible," Kline said. "Langdon's a heck of a player, one of the best in the county. In terms of all-around talent, she might be the best in the county in my opinion. Alex just did a fantastic job."
The Scouts didn't win the rebounding battle, but limited second-chance opportuntities for the Saints after giving up 44 offensive rebounds during back-to-back losses to Twin Valley and Reading High last week.
"The past few games we struggled with rebounding and that was my mindset coming into the game: rebound, rebound, rebound," Grabosky said.

Beating Berks Catholic on its home court after dropping consecutive games for the first time this season shows these Scouts are different. They now have double digits in the win column for the first time since 2016.
"We just really care about each other and love each other," Trevena said. "We want each other to succeed. If my teammate has a big game and I have no points, I'd be just as happy as I am today."
"We've played a lot together," Grabosky said. "There's not one person trying to do everything. We always make the extra pass. We're friends on and off the court and we've made a connection. Everyone's staying together."
The game couldn't have started much better for the Scouts as Trevena banged home a 3 for the first points of the game.
She drilled back-to-back 3s early in the second quarter to push Conrad Weiser's lead to 15-8 and the Scouts went up by nine shortly after before taking a 17-12 lead into halftime.
The Saints battled back in the third quarter with Langdon hitting a 3 and Sydney Corado making two, the last of which cut Weiser's lead to 28-25 in the final seconds headed to the fourth.
Katy Linderman's free throws gave Berks Catholic its first lead of the game at 29-28 with 4:02 remaining in the final quarter, but Geniva Paul made a foul shot and Gisselle Feliciano banked in a runner to give the lead back to the Scouts with 1:59 left.
Sydney Spang splashed a deep 2 with 58 seconds left to push the lead to 33-30 and the Saints missed multiple attempts from deep to tie it.
The Scouts secured the rebound after a mass scramble and Paul was fouled, making both foul shots to give Weiser a five-point cushion with 35.5 seconds left.
The Saints tried to get a quick 3 to give themselves a chance, but couldn't convert and time ran out.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Conrad Weiser | 9 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 35 |
Berks Catholic | 6 | 6 | 13 | 5 | 30 |
Scouts (3-3, 10-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Trevena | 5-8 | 0-2 | 4-6 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
Paul | 4-9 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 5 | 11 |
Feliciano | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Spang | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Grabosky | 2-10 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 13 | 4 |
Bossler | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Snyder | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 14-38 | 3-10 | 4-9 | 4 | 26/30 | 35 |
Saints (3-3, 7-7) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
Welker | 2-8 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
Langdon | 3-15 | 2-2 | 1-7 | 1 | 6 | 9 |
Corado | 3-12 | 1-2 | 2-6 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
McFadden | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
Mirenda | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
K. Linderman | 0-3 | 2-2 | 0-2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
E. Linderman | 0-4 | 1-4 | 0-3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Cannon | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 10-46 | 7-12 | 3-24 | 3 | 34/37 | 30 |
Turnovers: Berks Catholic 16, Conrad Weiser 14. Team rebounds: Berks Catholic 3, Conrad Weiser 4.
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