North/East Xtra: North Catholic grad and Penn Hills native sparks Point Park University women's team to remarkable season
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April Austin, a North Catholic High School graduate, has helped Point Park University to an 18-5 record this season.
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April Austin reveled in the many victories of which she was a part while competing at North Catholic High School.
That success, which featured WPIAL championships in 2004 and '07 and a berth in the '07 PIAA Class A championship game, proved to be a primer for this 5-foot-6 junior from Penn Hills. Austin is the starting point guard at Point Park University this season.
Austin and her Pioneers teammates are 18-5 overall and 9-1 in the eight-team American Mideast Conference after Tuesday's 48-46 loss to Walsh College in North Canton, Ohio.
Point Park already clinched a spot in the four-team conference playoffs that begin Feb. 21. The team had not lost in more than two months, and was riding a 13-game winning streak until Tuesday. The Pioneers are ranked No. 25 nationally among NAIA Division II women's basketball teams.
"We're in a good situation, and we've been playing fairly well," said Austin, who scored 13 points and handed out six assists last Saturday.
Austin, who was a Division I recruit coming out of North Catholic and played at the University of Dayton for one season before transferring to Point Park in 2009, is the Pioneers' leading scorer, averaging 10.6 points per game.
The Pioneers' strength, however, lies in their balance. Four other players average more than seven points a game, with West Mifflin's Joncelyn Peterkin the Pioneers' next leading scorer at 9.6 points per game. North Allegheny and CCAC-Allegheny graduate Kristin Beatty and Ringgold alumna Emily Schartner are next at 8.7 and 8.3 points per game, respectively.
"Balance has helped us this year," Austin said. "If one can't put [the ball in the basket], another one will. We've been able to pick each other up."
Some view Point Park's success as nothing short of amazing: The Pioneers lack a home court near their Downtown campus, using the old YMCA --now Point Park's student center -- as a practice facility.
Of course, that's nothing new for the university's basketball program -- its men's and women's teams have always played home games at off-site venues.
Many years ago, Point Park played home games at CCAC-Allegheny on the North Side. More recently, the Pioneers have called the gym at CCAC-South Campus in West Mifflin their home court.
Coach Tony Grenek is in his first season with the Pioneers, but he has 17 years of coaching experience on the high school and college levels. Most recently, he was the top women's assistant coach at Seton Hill University, an NCAA Division II school in Greensburg that plays in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Grenek knew Point Park has no home gym, but he also knew that previous coach Sam Kosanovich had established a solid program before stepping down to become the school's student center director and the girls basketball coach at Elizabeth Forward High.
"Sam built a nice program, and I knew I was walking into a good situation with some nice returning players," Grenek said. "So when I got the job, I was pretty excited."
Austin's presence on the team has fueled his optimism.
"To me, she's a natural-born leader," Grenek said of Austin, a civil engineering major. "It's like having another coach on the floor. She's the consummate point guard who is three or four steps ahead of everyone else.
"In a game or a practice, she'll harp about someone missing a screen or a cut. It's kind of funny because she'll say what I was going to say. She's very unselfish, is a quality team leader and does not care about the spotlight. She just wants to win."
Austin and her teammates knew they would have plenty to learn: Grenek brought some different ideas about the way the Pioneers were going to run their offense and defense.
He is a big fan of longtime Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim's 2-3 zone defense and he had some new ideas about Point Park's offense.
"Under coach Kosanovich, we ran a lot of motion," Austin said. "[Since graduated] Ashley Henderson and I were the primary people to score. This year, the strategy changes every single game, and our offense depends on who we are playing. But we've been able to adjust to it and stay on track."
A big reason for that change in offense, Grenek believes, is to accentuate the Pioneers' defensive prowess that had limited opponents to an average 52 points a game before Tuesday's game at Walsh.
"We try to play the same way the Syracuse men do with a lot of shifts and traps," Grenek said. "We like to press when we can, and we'll use a combination of three or four presses.
"I told the team it would be lot harder to understand our defense than the offense, but our team is sound on the defensive side. We want to keep [opponents] as off-balance as we can and get as many turnovers as possible."
Point Park is forcing 24.7 turnovers per game. And the Pioneers are rolling without the benefit of a home court, which is just fine with Grenek.
"We play with a chip on our shoulder," he said. "Regardless of the obstacles, we're going to play to win. That's increased our toughness, and we've also received some student support. Our players have really appreciated that."
Austin was succinct about her team's requirements.
"All we need is a hardwood and two hoops," she said before Tuesday's game. "We've won 13 games in a row, and we don't want to feel what it is like to lose again."
April Austin, a North Catholic High School graduate, has helped Point Park University to an 18-5 record this season.
First Published February 9, 2012 12:00 am
