In spite of a notable five-year run in the postseason during his first stay at the helm of the Roughies' girls' program, Dave Troxell admittedly has a case of butterflies in the stomach when his team opened the season against Mahanoy Area last Friday night.

"I still had some first game jitters," said Troxell, who had a 201-108 record during his first stint from 1998-2009. "But once I got into the Xs and Os, I felt like I had never left. But I was really happy and ecstatic for the girls. I was really happy to see the girls' happy faces. Their hard work beginning in the summer paid off. It is huge for them and the program to get a win in our first game."

Troxell's exuberance was due to his team's 42-39 opening night victory over Mahanoy Area, marking the first victory in two seasons and only the fourth (3-77 over the past four years) in the past five seasons counting this one.

However, the following afternoon, the Roughies traveled to Quakertown and dropped a 42-24 decision. Trailing by one point at halftime to Quakertown, the Roughies struggled in the third quarter as they managed just two points and couldn't recover.

"It's tough to win any game when you only score two points in a quarter," stressed the veteran coach. "But we just didn't play well. It may have had to do with the emotional game the night before, too.

"Overall, we had a good group of girls who are anxious to win and work very hard."

Troxell will look to senior returnees Katie Buczynski and Janae Matos, both of whom have been with the team since their freshmen year, to help set the pace this winter. Buczynski, who lead the team in scoring and rebounding last season, was the team's leading scorer through their first two games. Matos, who has been an emotional leader over the years, also has been recognized for her relentless play on both ends of the court.

Junior Shiloh Sziy, who had 17 points and 16 rebounds in the win over Mahanoy, is expected to be a mainstay in the middle. Fellow junior Amary Moten should also be a force up front from a power forward spot. Sophomore Quinn Bachman will be at the two guard for the Roughies.

Seniors Rachel Sell and Torey Saruba, both of whom weren't on the squad last season, will round out the regular seven-man rotation.

Rounding out the roster are Kelly Sobrinski, Becky Harakal, Jackie Garner, Selena Reiss, Sarah Suydam, and Abigail Preletz.

With just 13 girls in the program, Troxell had to forego a junior varsity program after initially believing it was a standard after having more girls involved in the summer program. Yet, Troxell believes his JV program will return next season as the Roughies should have a solid eighth-grade program this winter.

"It's a shame," said Troxell about the demise of the JV program. "I really thought we could do it. We had interest during the summer, but we didn't have a number of girls who didn't come back."

Reviewing their win over Mahanoy Area, Troxell is confident his squad can keep control of a game throughout the season.

"We built a nice lead of eight and nine points over Mahanoy," said Troxell. "We knew they would make a run at some point, and they did. We ended up winning by three points, but we should have been able to keep the lead.

"We have to learn how to win."

Catty will get into full gear this week when they begin a three-game stretch beginning with hosting Palmerton on Tuesday and Moravian Academy Wednesday night. They will travel to Pen Argyl Friday.

Troxell isn't anticipating his club to contest for the upper echelon in the league with teams such as Northwestern, Southern Lehigh, Salisbury, and Bangor among others, but he knows his team can compete on a nightly basis.

"We have stressed the fundamentals and we know we have to execute offensively," stated Troxell. "It will be a struggle for us to win in some games. But I don't want to sell our girls short either. They will continue to learn and battle throughout the season."