From age 9 until 22, Laura Montecalvo grew up as a manager on the sidelines as her dad, Guy, inched toward a 225-107-2 record coaching Washington and Canon-McMillan football.
At Washington, he won WPIAL 2A championships in 1993 and 2001, adding a PIAA title in 2001.
In her third season as Chartiers-Houston’s girls basketball coach, Montecalvo’s team brought home a WPIAL 2A title of its own last Thursday — the first of its kind for the Buccaneers. Some of Montecalvo’s strongest memories came from watching her dad, whom she credits as her motivating force when working with players.
“I was exposed, I guess, to what it takes to be really good and to have successful teams, and what it takes to have that impact on kids,” Laura Montecalvo said.
One of the biggest lessons Montecalvo gleaned from her dad was to be as prepared as possible. In an effort to be more primed for games, she introduced scouting reports to the team.
Montecalvo — who is also a guidance counselor at West Allegheny — details what to expect offensively and defensively, what the team needs to do to win, and what strategies opponents could try on the court. Players receive a written copy and the team also acts out the different components of the report, in addition to watching film.
“We really just started working with them on understanding the game, becoming students of the game, playing and performing in bigger situations than they had in the past,” Montecalvo said. “So I do think it’s been a learning process, as well as an improvement process that we just saw the benefits of the other night.”
In addition to bringing more regimented preparation, Montecalvo scrimmages with the players most practices, often matching up with senior point guard Ja’la Walker. Walker said the scouting reports help her walk into games more knowledgeable.
“It lets me know who to watch, who’s their best player, who’s their best shooter and all that,” Walker said. “And what their plays are.”
After losing forward Alexa Williamson to injury last year, the Buccaneers lost in the first round of the PIAA playoffs. In the 2014-15 season, Chartiers-Houston made it to the quarterfinals before falling to Bishop Canevin.
With Montecalvo’s first freshman class now juniors, the group wants to make it further than before. Maybe all the way to a gold medal, guard Jules Vulcano said.
“This year, I feel like we’re all working together,” Vulcano said. “We know the game, we know each other, what we’re good at, and we just keep pushing.”
Assistant coach Brad Scott credited the players for their determination to keep winning. The 47-35 win against five-time defending 1A champion Vincentian in the WPIAL title game marks the team’s 17th win in a row.
“They’re going to do whatever it takes in the game to win the basketball game. … That’s just their mentality,” Scott said. “And that culture has maybe grown because Laura has been here.”
Sarah K. Spencer: sspencer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @sarah_k_spence.
First Published: March 10, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
