The South Charleston girls basketball coach was wondering how he was going to fill the leadership void left by graduated seniors Sissy Wagner and Karley Walker. Black Eagles senior Alexa Morgan seems to have answered that question this week against some of the top teams in the state in the 48-team event at St. Albans High.

"She's diving for loose balls when we're up seven or eight points and 30 seconds left,'' said Greene, who guided the Black Eagles to a runner-up finish in the Class AAA state championship game last year. "She's doing all the things that lead to being a positive role model. The more we've played the last two days the more Alexa is directing traffic.

"Alexa is going to have to step up as a floor leader for us. That's the one thing we're lacking now. She is by far, in my opinion, in the games we've played she's the best player on the floor. She is motivating. She brings to the table a lot of experience and a lot of skills. I think Alexa Morgan is going to have a tremendous senior year.''

The laidback Morgan seems ready to embrace the role.

"Acutally it's not a new role,'' she said matter-of-factly Thursday after the second of three games. "In AAU I have to do the same thing, I have to step up. I feel like if I can step up I can help their game improve so they can help everybody else improve.''

The Black Eagles still have plenty of other questions to answer between now and the start of practice in November. SC must find replacements for starters Wagner and Walker, both outstanding 3-pointer shooters who also had a knack for coming up with clutch plays.

Then there is the health of Brittany Gordon's knee. Gordon, a Class AAA third-team all-state selection, had ACL surgery in March after injuring her knee during the semifinals of the state tournament.

"It's given us a chance to evaluate deep into the roster,'' said Greene of the Shootout, which brings to a close this month's three-week practice period. "We have a couple freshmen who have come in and sophomores who played a lot of JV ball last year so we get a chance to look at all of our kids in a game situation.

"We haven't had a lot of quality practices up to this. They're maybe not in the best conditioning right now, but to see them come out and play this hard is pretty encouraging for us. When they tip the ball up they play as hard as they've ever played.''

Greene said Gordon is coming along fine in her rehabilitation.

"Brittany's been released as far as being able to jog, light workouts and stuff like that,'' he said. "She's lifted weights since Day 1. We're pretty optimistic that when the season starts she'll be available for us. Things are pretty positive right now.''

 In addition to Morgan and Gordon, starter Angelica Villanueva and top substitute Keke Allen form a solid nucleus for the Black Eagles.

"The talent's definitely there,'' said Morgan. "Everybody on our team has the potential to be really, really good.

"I think [the St. Alban Shootout has] definitely brought us closer. We really haven't had a chance to play a real game together. It's given the freshmen a look of what they need to expect during the season. I think we should be ready to go.''

Wheeling Park made the trek from the Northern Panhandle to the eighth annual SA Shootout for the first time Thursday.

That gave the southern part of the state an opportunity to catch a glimpse of sophomore Emily Puskarich, one of the state's rising talents.

Puskarich, a 5-foot-7 guard, earned Class AAA all-state second-team honors after helping the Patriots to the quarterfinals of the state tournament. Puskarich averaged 18 points and was the Patriots' second-leading rebounder.

"Emily is a really talented basketball player,'' said Park coach Meredith Anderson. "She knows the game really well and does a great job even at her young age.

"She's one of the best freshmen I've seen in a really long time. Just her size, her ability to handle the ball, get to the hole and finish shots. For her age, she's very advanced.''

Anderson said Puskarich is beginning to garner the attention of college coaches.

"I think her showing in the state tournament really helped her,'' Anderson said. "People are starting to ask me questions. It's still a little early.

"I think this sophomore season will be really important for her to continue to maintain those stats. Obviously, if we have the success we had last season and maybe a little more that'll be beneficial to her.''

Anderson said she sees nothing but more success on the horizon for the Patriots.

"We feel like we have the building blocks to maintain ourselves for a few years,'' said the coach. "The team that we brought down there's five freshmen and two sophomores so we are very young.''

Tolsia coach Ric Morrone knows how important the three-week practice period in June can be to a team.

"This is a real critical year for us,'' said the coach, who lost seven seniors from last year's Class AA semifinals squad. "We've got a lot of minutes we've got to give to somebody else.

"I told them the word of the year for us is opportunity. This is one of the few times you've got an opportunity to really make an impact and they've really seized on it this summer.''

Courtney Crum is the only starter returning with experience for the Rebels.  

"We're excited about them,'' Morrone said. "We're not very seasoned, but we've got some girls who are really working hard and they play well together and they've had a really good summer.''

Reach Tommy R. Atkinson at tatkin...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4811.