TIONESTA, Pa. (EYT/D9) — It didn’t take Amber Guzzi long last season to realize she was in a whole new world.

(Submitted photo)

With no girls’ basketball team to play on at Forest — the athletic blending of East Forest and West Forest — because of a lack of numbers, Guzzi still wanted to lace up her sneakers and compete.

The only way she could do that was on the boys’ basketball team at Forest.

Guzzi was unblinking when faced with that kind of challenge. She was a starter, but had to quickly adapt to the fast pace — and more physical play — of the boys’ game.

“It was pretty different,” Guzzi said, chuckling. “How aggressive the boys are — they’ll fall and jump on you. The fouls are different. You can be more aggressive. I really liked it.”

Guzzi had no trouble standing up to the boys.

This year, though, Guzzi is happy to be back playing girls’ basketball again. The junior is a key member of the Fires’ girls’ hoop program, which is back on the court after a one-year hiatus.

The roster has swelled to 13 strong. Last year with a roster size of just five, the season had to be scuttled.

The Fires have also started out red hot with a 3-1 record heading into a game against Brockway on Monday night.

Guzzi has been one of the players leading the way, even though she is still trying to adapt to the girls game again.

It hasn’t always gone smoothly — or without some fouls.

“I feel like I’m so much more aggressive,” Guzzi said. “I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel like I was ready to come back to the girls team. I’ve had to change how aggressive I can be or not be because the girls, once you touch them, you get a foul. I’m usually on four fouls each game.”

First-year coach Luke Alex said Guzzi’s experience with the boys team last year has helped her this season in her return to the girls’ game.

Guzzi was the MVP of the Forest Area Tip-off Tournament. She scored 19 against Youngsville in the championship game.

“The aggression with the ball, the ability to take the ball to the hoop has improved,” Alex said. “She’s initiating more contact that she did two years ago when she was playing with the girls. She’s not afraid to take it to anybody, which I think was one of the main differences from two years ago.”

Just being back on the court has been a refreshing experience for everyone involved with Forest girls basketball.

The decision to try to have a team again was made in the spring. With no coach in place, Alex was hired.

Nothing was guaranteed, however.

The numbers still had to be there and Alex was pleased with the early turnout and excitement during open gyms.

“We had a bunch of girls who were interested,” Alex said. “We had more that 13, but 13 stuck. We knew we’d have enough.”

It’s a fairly young team.

Kenzie Kopchick is the only senior. The rest of the team is full of juniors and freshmen.

Kopchick was more relieved than most when she found out there would be a team this season. Kopchick also didn’t play during the shortened COVID year in 2020-21.

She’s had two years chomping at the bit to play again.

“It was exciting,” she said. “I really wanted to play my senior year. It was a little upsetting last year when we didn’t play. It was the first year everything was back to normal and we didn’t have a team.”

Kopchick used her long layoff wisely. She said she worked on honing all aspects of her game with the hopes of having a chance to finally put it on display again.

“I learned a lot of new skills that I didn’t have two years ago,” she said.

Alex said most of his players are still playing catchup after being idle for a year.

“It took awhile to shake some of the rust off,” Alex said. “We are still trying to find our game form shooting. But I’d say we’ve made some big strides. We’ve come a long way from our open gyms and our practices in November.”

The void left by no girls basketball at East Forest and West Forest last year was felt deeply by both schools.

There’s a tradition at each and quiet gyms on girls basketball nights were unsettling.

“That was one of my main motivations to come out and coach,” Alex said. “I’m trying to keep that history going for the district.”

Four of the girls on the roster are from East Forest. The other nine are from West Forest.

Guzzi is from West while Kopchick is from East.

Kopchick said it was difficult at first merging players from the two schools, especially with so many freshmen.

“But we got along pretty quickly,” she said.

With so many unknowns, Alex has tried to temper expectations.

“It’s very cliche but one of my mantras is always take it one game at a time,” Alex said. “We always want to just go 1-0. We don’t want to set too many longterm goals. We just want to keep building the program and have success each and every game and come out and compete the best as possible.”