Who is the best Centre County girls athlete from the fall season? Vote here to decide
Fall sports for Centre County’s girls teams have ended.
Now, it’s time to select between 11 nominees for the Centre Daily Times’ Girls Athlete of the Season. Vote for your favorite in this unscientific, just-for-fun poll as many times as you’d like. The poll will close at noon Saturday.
The nominees were selected by the CDT sports staff via stats compiled by the CDT, sent to cdtscores@centredaily.com or kandrews@centredaily.com, and by readers’ votes in the weekly polls.
Ava Stere, Bald Eagle volleyball
Stere had a strong junior season. She played in 62 sets with a team-high 161 kills with a kill percentage of 28.3%, along with 20 assists, 14 blocks and 148 digs in 2022.
Chloe Matson, Philipsburg-Osceola soccer
Matson finished her junior season with 14 goals in 17 games, along with seven assists and 25 points. Her sharpest performance was a hat trick, to go with three assists in an 8-1 victory over Clarion on Sept. 3 that netted her nine points.
Ella Tambroni, State College field hockey
Tambroni is just a sophomore, but she solidified her place as the No. 1 goal-scorer on State College’s field hockey team with eight on the year. She was second on the team with 10 assists and led the team with 26 points.
Heather Leskovansky, Bald Eagle soccer
Leskovansky won CDT’s Girls Athlete of the Week poll when she scored a goal in Bald Eagle’s 2-1 loss to Penns Valley on Oct. 26. She finished with 11 goals scored in 18 games, along with an assist for 23 points in her senior season.
Keira Whitman, Bellefonte soccer
The junior goalkeeper held Bellefonte close in many of the team’s games. She had 196 saves through 18 games with an 80% save rate, playing in 1,480 minutes in 2022.
Whitman was named CDT’s Girls Athlete of the Week twice. Her first selection came on Sept. 25, when she had 61 saves from Sept. 13-19 for Bellefonte. Whitman had another selection when she had 11 saves in a 1-0 victory over Penns Valley on Oct. 5.
Madison Koshko, Saint Joseph’s Catholic golf
The first-year Koshko shot 73 on a par 71 for a District 6 Class AA championship. She went on to shoot a 14+ at the PIAA Class AA championship at 14 years old.
Nicole Denger, Penns Valley soccer
Denger, a senior, was instrumental in Penns Valley’s first District 6 Class 1A championship victory in school history. She finished the season with 10 goals, five assists and 25 points on the season with 1.3 points per match. Her best game came in the District 6 Class 2A semifinals on Oct. 26 against Bald Eagle, where she had two goals and four points.
Reese Hazelton, Philipsburg-Osceola volleyball
Hazelton is well on her way to being crowned as the greatest volleyball player in school history at Philipsburg-Osceola. The junior was ranked 21st in the country in kills with 674 on the season. Her hitting percentage of 34.5% was ranked 12th in Pennsylvania and her 394 digs were ranked 19th in the state. Hazelton had a kill percentage of 46.4%.
Scotty Dinges, Penns Valley soccer
Dinges thrilled Penns Valley supporters with her team-high 12 goals on the year. The junior added in six assists to cap off a 30-point season, which also led the team. It didn’t hurt that she scored the game-winning goal to send Penns Valley to the PIAA Class 1A playoffs for the first time in school history.
Sophie Granville, Philipsburg-Osceola volleyball
Granville, also a junior and another great volleyball player in her own right at Philipsburg-Osceola, had an outstanding season. She had 215 kills, a 28.1% kill percentage, five blocks and 312 digs. Granville was sixth in the PIAA’s District 6 with a 15.1% hitting percentage, was third in kills and fourth in serving aces with 43.
State College tennis
The Lady Little Lions nearly finished with a perfect season in 2022. State College fell in the PIAA playoffs to Mt. Lebanon 5-0, but ended the year with a 7-1 record.
