With players among national leaders in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, the Butler County Community College women’s and men’s basketball teams are off to their best starts in at least a decade as they pursue conference championships and beyond.

BC3’s women’s team is 11-1 behind All-American Aslyn Pry, and Emma Johns and Hailey Metzger. The best record BC3’s women’s squad has had after 12 games since 2012 was 8-4 in 2015-2016.

BC3’s men’s team is 10-2 behind Jason Baker, Kevaughn Price and Derrick Anderson. The best record BC3’s men’s squad has had after 12 games since 2012 was 5-7 in 2014-2015.

After 16-day holiday breaks, BC3’s teams resume their 2022-2023 seasons Jan. 7 at Garrett College, McHenry, Md.

“Big games and winning championships”

BC3’s women’s team has won eight consecutive games. The Pioneers this winter are seeking their sixth Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference championship and second in a row.

“They’re playing very well together,” said Lydia Roth, interim head coach of BC3’s women’s squad. “After the first couple of games, I got a sense that that is kind of how the women would be. At the beginning of the season, I said if we would have one downfall as a team, it would be that the women wouldn’t be able to play together because we did have so much talent.

“But after a few games I saw that they were going to be concerned not with personal stats but with winning. As soon as I saw that attitude, I knew we could have a pretty great season.”

Pry was selected as a National Junior College Athletic Association Division III All-American after her freshman season.

The 5-foot-10 sophomore this season ranks second among players on 71 women’s squads in Division III in rebounds per game with 14.8. She is third in blocked shots with 42 and ninth in points per game with 19.3.

The Moniteau High School graduate scored 30 points and had a season-high 27 rebounds in the Pioneers’ most recent game, a 77-45 victory over the Community College of Allegheny County on Dec. 21.

BC3 is also third in Division III in rebound margin per game at 21.8.

“When she can eliminate second chances nearly every single time for the other team and extend our own shots per game with her rebounds,” Roth said, “it’s just incredible.”

Johns is averaging 15 points and Metzger 11.8. Johns is a 5-7 freshman guard and Karns City graduate and Metzger is a 5-5 sophomore guard and Butler graduate.

The Pioneers are ninth in Division III in 3-pointers made per game with seven. Johns ranks fourth in Division III with 35 and Metzger 14th with 24.

“We’re playing extremely well,” Pry said. “We have a lot of inside and outside game this year, which I think is benefiting us. This year we are more diverse and we have a lot more talent across the board. … Our record is really good, but it is going to come down to how we perform at the end of the year in those big games and winning championships.”

“You can’t give me this layup?”

BC3’s men’s team has won five games in a row. The Pioneers this winter are seeking their seventh WPCC crown and first since 2019.

The squad is BC3’s tallest in at least 10 years.

With players averaging 6-4, the Pioneers lead Division III in blocked shots per game with 8.7. BC3 is also seventh in field goal percentage at 49.6.

“That tells you that you are playing the right way and you’re making the right plays,” said Joe Lewandowski, interim head coach of BC3’s men’s squad. “Those are categories that stick out because it means you are making plays that allow you to be successful at a high percentage.”

The Pioneers also rank ninth in having committed the fewest personal fouls per game with an average of eight.

“We just don’t foul,” Lewandowski said. “When you have that many blocked shots, it means the guys have really good timing. They really understand what other teams are trying to do offensively, and are able to take some of those things away.”

Baker is a 6-9 sophomore forward and graduate of Legacy Early College, Greenville, S.C.; Price is a 6-3 freshman guard-forward and Bishop Canevin graduate; and Anderson is a 6-2 sophomore guard and Boardman, Ohio, graduate.

Baker ranks first among players on 97 men’s squads in Division III in blocked shots with 58.

“They feel bad,” Baker said of BC3’s opponents. “When I block their shot, they just always say, ‘Good block.’ Or they will joke around with me and say, ‘You can’t give me this layup?’”

Baker is also 15th in defensive rebounds with 85.

Price is sixth in field goals made with 99 and 20th in points per game with 19.6.

Anderson is 12th in free throws made with 59 and 16th in points per game with 20.3.

“We are playing as one”

“Our team is playing great on both sides of the ball,” Baker said. “We are playing as one. We are playing as a we instead of as a me. We are all working together to win. That’s the main objective.”

Baker is averaging 16.2 points and Todd Simons, a 6-4 freshman guard-forward and graduate of Austintown Fitch, Ohio, 15.1. Simons also ranks 20th with 19 blocked shots.

Pry was named an NJCAA Division III All-American in women’s basketball in March. In the 2021-2022 season she led Division III in rebounding average at 19.6 and was fourth in scoring average at 23.2.

Garrett College plays in Division II of the NJCAA. Its women’s squad has won three in a row and is 7-1. Its men’s squad is 10-5.

BC3 women’s team next plays at home at 5 p.m. Jan. 9 against Allegany College of Maryland.

BC3’s women’s and men’s teams host Westmoreland County Community College squads at 1 p.m. and at 3 p.m., respectively, on Jan. 21.

Bill Foley is coordinator of news and media content at Butler County Community College.