New season, new role for Eastern York's Hannah Myers
Jim Seip , jseip@GameTimePA.com4:58 p.m. EST December 22, 2016
Hannah Myers slashed to the hoop only to see her shot swatted out of bounds and bounce off a wall.It didn't matter.The rejection didn't faze Myers.Eastern in-bounded the ball, and Myers drove the lane again. This time she sank her shot.
That's a glimpse at the tenacity in Myers' game. She doesn't give in. Her mother, Tracy Myers, laughed
when asked about it. Call it a pit bull attitude. Perhaps, that tenacity comes from following in the footsteps
of two older sisters who went on to play college basketball. Perhaps, that tenacity comes from being a
middle child in a family with nine children, fighting for recognition or just another chance to get her hands
on the ball. "When we went to tournaments," Tracy Myers said about her younger children, "they were
always tailing along." The exposure to the game has rubbed off. The junior has Eastern York off to a 5-0
start. The Golden Knights now appear to be a team to beat in YAIAA Division II, but it didn't always look
that way. For one, Eastern needed Myers to make a position change in the offseason.
• • •
It all seemed so odd. Eastern York had a surprise shakeup with its girls' basketball program in the offseason, losing its head coach.
In stepped Brad Weaver, and when he looked at the program he knew Myers was a good player. But she
was playing more of a forward or an off guard position last season, and he wanted her to change roles.
"We had a need," Weaver said. "We knew we needed a point guard, and she's the one I looked to. She's
a taller point guard, she can see over the defense."
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Eastern York high school's Brooke Lacesa, left, and Hannah Myers puts the pressure on York Suburban's Katherine Mooney during the Knights' 46-36 victory over the Trojans on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. (Photo: Jason Plotkin, York Daily Record)
The transition might sound like a simple matter. It wasn't.
"I was really scared," Myers said. "Growing up, I never liked handling the point, but he worked with me
and helped me to get my touch back."
Myers needed hours of offseason work to fine-tune her game to prepare to be the point guard. She
worked with Weaver. She worked with 2,500-point scorer and Eastern assistant Andrew Nicholas.
"Hannah is a fighter," Tracy Myers said. "She knew she just had to do it."
But it was not easy. Even in her time away from Eastern coaches she drilled with Scott Singer, a
basketball development coach at Next Level Basketball Performance Academy, to improve at handling the ball.
"It took a long time," Myers said. "And I'm still learning, too."
Eastern now has options at point guard. Weaver can use Katie Lehman at point or Myers, and Myers has
shown she can play the point at this level.
• • •
An opposing coach noted he had heard Eastern had another Myers girl. And he had heard she might be the best Myers, yet.
That in itself is saying something.
Liz Myers is starting and averaging 10.4 points per game at Shepherd University.
Leah Myers has recovered from a foot injury and is playing at Bloomsburg University.
"Hannah is benefiting because she saw what it takes to be the complete player," Tracy Myers said.
The neat thing about the Myers sisters is each one had a different style of play.
Liz, who stands 5-foot-11, played in the post.
Leah, who stands 5-foot-9, slashed to the hoop.
Hannah does a bit of everything.
Playing the point she can run the floor and slash to the hoop, of course, but she can also be found under
the rim fighting for the ball against the opposition's tallest players.
"She's the one who can always create her own shot, she's a leader and we need her," Weaver said. "She's
very versatile ... she does it all for us."
