Ward joins MVISBL as new Cedarbrook coach

By JEREMY SELLEW

jsellew@yourmvi.com

When the Mon Valley Independent Summer Basketball League tips off in a few weeks, there will be one new coach roaming the girls division sidelines.

Former Monessen star Mariah Ward will make her debut as the new head coach of the Cedarbrook team. She’ll take over for former head coach Dennis Stitch and assistant Donna Sallee after they stepped aside. Ward will be able to name her own assistant coach.

“I’m really looking forward to getting to show what I can do from a coaching standpoint,” Ward said. “I think when my name is mentioned around the Mon Valley area people automatically think of how I was as a player and unfortunately, my playing days are far behind me. I’m really excited to showcase this coaching journey I’ve been on.”

Ward first got into coaching at the Monessen Civic Center three years ago. She began coaching in a few summer leagues around the Pittsburgh area and had an opportunity to be the head coach at Propel Schools’ Montour location. She started coaching in the Western Pa. Bruins AAU organization coaching seventh-grade girls.

Last year, she began serving as Robert Cash’s assistant coach at Penn Hills and was the head coach of the Indians’ junior-varsity squad.

Prior to her time coaching, she was one of the best players to come from the Monessen girls program. She notched over 1,000 career points in her junior season and finished with 1,475 in her career. She was a second-team All-State performer twice and was named all-District her senior season. She played for a semester at Westmoreland County Community College and averaged nearly 18 points per game before transferring to Lackawanna College.

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