A few years away from their last District 11 title and almost a decade removed from a dominating run of four straight Schuylkill League championships, the Marian girls basketball program might not be the powerhouse program it was in the recent past.

But make no mistake, the Fillies are still very good.Paul Brutto is still the same coach who carved out a special place in the history of Pennsylvania girls basketball coaching with over 600 victories and a state championship on his resume.That means the Fillies will always play good defense. The key to getting back on the championship stage is finding enough offense.A season ago, Marian finished with an outstanding 22-4 record, with its last loss coming in the District 11 AA semifinals at the hands of Pine Grove.As usual, Marian rode its defense most of the season."It's hard to lose when you are giving up only that amount of points," chuckled Brutto about his team's impressive 28.7 defensive points per game average. "But that's something we always focused on. We lost Savannah (Krusinsky) on defense and she was also a very good rebounder. We also lost a very good point guard in Vanessa Whitecavage. Those are two losses that will hurt us on defense as well as on offense."Despite the losses, Brutto is excited about the 2016-17 Fillies.Part of the reason is four veterans who will return and should carry the team, especially early in the season.They include 5-10 forward Madison Stoyer, 5-8 forward Brianna Raabe, 5-7 guard Brenna Karnish, and 5-5 guard Jill Correalle. Toss in 5-4 junior guard Reese Erbe, junior Gianna Agosti, who is coming off an injury from the volleyball, and 5-4 freshman ballhandler Emily Shaud, and the Fillies appear to have all the ingredients for another successful season."Brenna and Madison have been solid contributors since they were freshmen," said Brutto. "They're kind of coaches on the floor, leading by example. Our other seniors don't have quite the in-game experience as the other two, but they know what has to be done."Brutto calls Shaud a nice luxury, as her talent, no-fear attitude, and ability to lead have made an early impression."She sees the floor, and she isn't afraid to get involved offensively," said Brutto. "We're expecting her to be a big part of what we want to do this year."Shaud isn't the only underclassmen that could have an impact this season.Marian will have three freshmen and two sophomores on the varsity roster.Besides Shaud, Brutto is hoping to get minutes from a pair of sophomore forwards in 5-11 Emma McClafferty and 5-10 Isabella Schwabe. Mark down two other frosh who could surface in 5-4 guard Macy Alansky and 5-2 guard Abby Digris."What I'm trying to stress is teams can't be good at everything; and not everybody is a talented and skilled player, but everybody can play together and give effort," said Brutto. "For us, that always starts with defense"If we don't play defense, we aren't going to have much success."