LEWISBURG, Pa. — The Bucknell women's basketball team has some unfinished business.
"Ending the way we did, playing Lehigh five times, we beat them four out of the five," Bucknell senior guard Marly Walls recalled. "I think we just regret not winning that one last game and making all of that quarantine and everything worth it."
That loss to the Mountain Hawks was in the Patriot League semifinals. Four senior starters from that team? Gone, but the Bison are getting by.
"Oh, it's a lot of learning, a lot of growing and we are excited to kind of just create with all these new people, all these new plays and all this new stuff that we're about to throw at all these other teams," Bucknell senior guard Taylor O'Brien said. "So, we're excited to kind of get back in the swing of things and we have a lot of new, exiting talent on our team."
Talent like Cecelia Collins. The Scranton Prep grad is all set to begin her collegiate career.
"I'm very excited," the Bucknell freshman said. "Obviously, I'm very fortunate to be able to play after high school and I'm just looking forward to it, just to make the most of this experience."
"We knew she was good," Bucknell Women's Basketball Coach Trevor Woodruff said. "We expected her to come in here and help us early on in her career. She has a maturity and an IQ for basketball that's so far above and beyond her age. We're going to learn on her a lot even though she's a freshman. She's going to play a lot. She's going to be a big reason for any success that we have."
Collins is the first local player on Bucknell in 15 years. The last local to suit of for the Bison? Central Mountain's Lindsey Hollobaugh, who graduated in 2007.
"It means a lot," Collins said. "The amount of talent that's come out of the area these past couple years, it's cool to just represent and you're not too far from home."
"I think the talent in Northeastern Pennsylvania over the course of the last handful of years has been as strong as it's ever been in that part of the state," Woodruff added. "We were fortunate, in my opinion, to get the best one. As long as I'm here, we're going to continue to recruit what I consider to be home. If they're all as good as Cecelia, then we're certainly going to be there trying to pitch Bucknell and get them come play for the Bison."