JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
SPEEDY WARWICK TWINS ANA AND CARMEN CRUZ HOPE TO LEAD WARWICK TO THE TOP OF THE SECTION 1 CHARTS
Speed kills.
And Warwick’s girls’ basketball team is hoping a double shot of speed will cause major headaches for the Warriors’ Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 opponents in the coming weeks.
The speed will be supplied by Warwick’s lightning-quick junior guards, who also just happen to be identical twins: Ana and Carmen Cruz.
So don’t blink, or you’re liable to miss both of them.
Key reserves on the Warriors’ district-qualifying 15-9 team last season, Ana and Carmen will be called upon to play major minutes this season for Warwick, which continues to creep toward the lead pack in Section 1, where heavyweights Cedar Crest, McCaskey and Hempfield have dominated as of late.
And the Warriors should continue their climb this season with the Cruz twins patrolling the backcourt – running circles around the competition – when the season starts on Friday.
Ana and Carmen, who will likely run the point, should cause huge matchup problems in the backcourt, because not many players will want to chase them from end line to end line for 32 minutes a night.
“I’m glad they’re on my team,” Warwick senior Jess Brown said, smiling.
Ana and Carmen have plenty of speed to burn. They’re like twin Energizer Bunnies.
“It’s all about having heart and playing good D and hustling,” said Carmen, who averaged 3.8 points and hit 14 3-pointers last season.
“If you have those things, you’re going to be in a lot of games. For Ana and me, basketball is about heart. Even if there’s just one second left on the clock and you’re down 30, you still have to be out there giving it everything you’ve got.”
For Ana and Carmen, that means an up-tempo pace. Pushing the ball. Pressing and trapping. Transition game. Running. Constantly.
“I love the game,” said Ana, who averaged 8.4 points and drilled 19 3-pointers last season. “For me, that’s what it’s all about.”
Speed. Lot’s of it.
“Their quickness posses a lot of problems,” Warwick coach Matt Reber said. “Their quickness is endless. They bring energy, passion, fire and leadership. Their spark gets us going, even in practice. They pick up the energy. They’re cheerleaders. They get everyone pumped up with their fire. And that can become contagious.”
That’s Warwick’s plan, since the Warriors lost all five starters to graduation, including leading scorer and section all-star Kaitlyn Ober (11.9). So holdovers like Brown, who really came into her own at the end of last season, and especially Ana and Carmen, will have to step up.
Or, in the Cruz’s case, turn on the jets.
“They bring a lot of energy to our team; a lot of speed and aggressiveness,” Brown said. “They’re definitely going to help us out. Some people might count us out because we lost some really good players. So people might think we’re an easy game. But we’d like to use that to our advantage because we don’t mind being underdogs.”
Warwick will be underdogs at the outset.
Cedar Crest, with Shannon Stokes and Aubrey Hoover back, is the favorite to defend its title. McCaskey, with the athletic Teasia Myers and Cherelle Simmons back, will also be in the hunt, along with Hempfield, which went further than any team in the L-L League last season.
“We lost some good scorers, but we’re focused,” said Ana, who is older than Carmen by two minutes. “We’re definitely excited because we love being underdogs. And we’re very united as a team.”
If the Cruz twins can inflict their speed on the rest of the section, Warwick could potentially be a very scary team.
