Basketball rewind: Notes from around the region

At 28 years old, Rochelle Coleman has been involved with Paint Branch girls’ basketball for half her life.

As an All-Met guard, Coleman led the Panthers on the court for four seasons, capping her career with the 2001 Maryland 3A title. She moved on to Syracuse University, but continued to come back and help coach the team’s summer league squad. After a brief pro career, she spent the past two seasons as Paint Branch’s junior varsity coach.

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When the Burtonsville school needed to fill the varsity job after last season’s forgettable seven-win campaign, it’s no surprise that athletic director and former girls’ basketball coach Heather Podosek looked to Coleman to lead the turnaround.

In Coleman’s first season, Paint Branch (5-0) has begun the process of restoring the winning tradition. With Friday’s 58-49 win over previously unbeaten Whitman, the Panthers are one of just three undefeated teams remaining in Montgomery County.

“Coach Coleman came in with a winning mentality,” senior Brigette Ocran said. “She keeps us motivated no matter what. She knows how much girls’ basketball means to our community, and she makes sure we’re always working hard.”

Coleman hopes last season proves a minor detour in the team’s otherwise impressive recent run. Paint Branch averaged 23 wins during the four seasons before last year and captured the Maryland 3A title in 2008.

The Panthers seemed poised for another deep postseason run last season led by Division I recruits Brene Moseley (Maryland) and Kenia Cole (Hampton). But both players suffered ACL injuries in the offseason and neither played a game.

The team struggled from the outset, losing eight of its first 10 games. It capped a disappointing season with a first-round playoff loss to Churchill.

“We don’t want to be in that position again,” Coleman said. “They just didn’t adjust well to change. They’re 15, so it can be tough. They’re learning that you need to keep pushing, keep going through that adversity.”

Coleman made sure the team knew she was ready to turn the page when she designed t-shirts emblazoned with the acronym GRIND — Get Ready It’s a New Day.

She’s assembled a staff with two other former Panthers and spent more time teaching defense and on-court communication — the team’s calling cards during her successful playing career under Podosek.

During a recent interview, Coleman stopped mid-sentence to laugh at herself for sounding ‘like Tim Tebow’ as she used several coaching platitudes to discuss her team’s continued progress.

But so far the approach has paid off. The Panthers have allowed 45 points per game in the early going — an almost 10-point per game improvement over last season.

Ocran, an Army recruit, has led the squad, offensively, averaging 15.2 points per game, while Springbrook-transfer Kiara Colston, a sophomore guard, has pitched in nearly 13 points per game in the perfect start.

“Last year we weren’t really ready as a team to take the step and work as hard as we needed to,” Ocran said. “I guess this year we all decided we aren’t going to have another season like that.”