The opening of the Stellar "Catch a Rising Star" Basketball Showcase featured the Whitehall girls taking center stage to kickoff the outdoor hoopla.

The annual event, held at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown, included 24 teams from the region. It began with "Ladies Night" which tipped off the tournament on July 9 in front of a large crowd to watch the girls showcase their skills.

Whitehall entered two teams, with their A squad easily defeating Wilson Area High School 57-29. The B team dropped their opening round game to Catasauqua.

Girls head coach Dwight Repsher said this summer's been good, indicating they've "showed signs of playing pretty well at times."

They also played in the Patti Heffner Memorial Tournament held at Parkland High School. He decided not to make the trip to SportsFest that runs July 17-20 at Cedar Beach Park, believing it was more beneficial to play indoors at the Heffner event that ran June 13-15.

Repsher said that the summer's also brought some injuries to the varsity squad, forcing them to use "other players." However, that baptism by fire may pay dividends once they take the court in the winter as they begin play in the newly minted Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

As he guides the program forward for a second summer, Repsher recognizes the effort by his players to become more successful.

"We're trying," he said. "The kids have worked hard. This was our nineteenth game (vs. Wilson) this summer, and they've been great and committed. Hopefully that translates into a better year than last year."

Senior Karly Klein has witnessed the progress they've made since last summer when everything was new.

"It went a lot smoother than last year," said Klein. "Everyone was adjusting to one another a year ago."

With that familiarity now in place, Klein believes it will be a promising winter season. While she believes their prospects will be much brighter, an unknown lurks with the rollout of a new league and what that will bring.

"It's going to be a lot different next year, but I do believe what we did this summer shows a good outlook for this winter."

Klein, who plays in the frontcourt for the Zephs, has been working on her inside game this summer. She recognizes that Whitehall may now be the biggest team to take the floor this season, but she wants to make sure they have an inside presence. She'll be aided in the frontcourt by Ashley Barber, Jillian Kreglow and Ivanna Jones.

In Wednesday's game against Wilson, the Zephs A team did an excellent working the ball around the perimeter looking for an open shot. With Wilson clogging the inside, Jillian Rex was able to shoot over top of the zone, scoring 12 points.

"We had some really good ball movement, and we were able to find the open man," said Repsher. "We did a good job then hitting those shots."

The Zephs also got a bravura performance from point guard Taylor George. George finished the game with 20 points to lead all scorers.

With Sunday's final complete, George emerged as one of the leading scorers in the tournament, finishing with a 12.50 average over four games. That put her tied with Dieruff's Lexii Anderson for fifth.

Last season, the Zephs played well enough defensively to win, but were hampered by offensive inconsistency. Repsher said they've changed some things this summer, adding a wrinkle here and there to optimize a player's skill set.

"There's always an adjustment," he said. "We'll change some things."

He felt they made progress last season, and with another year in his system, they'll continue to make those adjustments which will hopefully bring more offensive consistency.

Right now they're playing and competing, trying to make this summer a successfsteppingstoneone to the season.

And that's what this summer has been about, according to Repsher.

"My line now is that we're trying," he said.