GIRLS BASKETBALL Teams linked through coaches

Liberty and Struthers have a lot of history behind the coaches involved.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
Christie Zetts was surprised to hear the needling from the sideline.
The former Struthers High girls basketball standout, now an assistant coach with the Wildcats, was participating in a team drill during practice when the voice of head coach Anne Wilson rang out.
"I know you're my equal!" Wilson insisted, "but would you play tougher defense?"
Zetts thought, "Wait a second. I'm a coach right now. Why is she yelling at me?"
They both laughed.
Zetts, the junior varsity coach, is in her second year on Wilson's staff.
"She is so intense," Wilson said of the young coach. "Just as intense as a coach as she was as a player."
Anticipated game
Talk about intensity; expect to witness it Thursday night.
Struthers (2-4) plays host to Liberty (5-2) in a non-conference game that has a whole lot of history behind the coaches involved.
Wilson and Zetts will be matched against Liberty head coach John Hritz and junior varsity coach Lisa Kalbasky, both of whom have Struthers ties.
Now, pay attention.
Hritz was the head coach at Struthers for 18 years, while Kalbasky played alongside Zetts -- under Hritz and later Wilson.
Former teammates
The junior varsity game will pit former teammates Kalbasky and Zetts against each other, while Hritz and Wilson will oppose each other in the varsity game.
"It's an exciting feeling, just because I know I can look down at Christie and, no matter what the score is, we can smile," Kalbasky said. "Whether it will be Struthers winning or Liberty winning, we know we have a connection."
Zetts was more forthright.
"I do want to beat her," she admitted. "I'm sure I'll look over to her and she'll look over to me and we'll start laughing during the game."
As guards, Kalbasky, a 1997 graduate, and Zetts ('98) teamed to help Struthers win back-to-back district championships in the mid 1990s.
"The biggest thing I remember is winning those back-to-back district championships, the friendships that were made and the long, hard practices," Kalbasky said. "No one ever forgets that."
Kalbasky played at Thiel College, where she earned her degree and became a fifth-grade teacher at Bennett Elementary School.
Zetts played at Youngstown State; but, like Kalbasky, her career was hampered by injury. Zetts expects to graduate this spring from YSU with a secondary education degree.
Both played under Hritz until the 1996-97 season, when Wilson took over.
"They were both tremendous players and super kids," Hritz said.
Coaching carousel
When Hritz retired at Struthers, he had 282 wins, but he wasn't finished coaching.
"The relationship with all the girls, having a good rapport with the kids, sticks out the most," Hritz said of his Struthers days.
Hritz became the head coach at Jackson-Milton, Newton Falls and Campbell before taking over at Liberty this season, choosing Jim Powers and Kalbasky as varsity assistants.
"I told Mr. Hritz about an opening at Liberty," Kalbasky said. "I wasn't going to kid myself; I wasn't ready to be a head coach. But who better to learn from than John Hritz?"
Wilson had left her junior varsity position at Poland, her alma mater, to take the same job at Struthers, under Hritz, in the mid 1980s.
But when then-assistant coach Doris Lancy retired, Wilson was never moved up, as she said she was promised by Hritz, but remained as the seventh- and eighth-grade coach.
"I took great offense to that," Wilson said.
Taking over
So Wilson resigned and waited 10 years for the opportunity to become head coach when Hritz retired.
In Wilson's first year, the 1996-97 season, Struthers went 15-6, 9-3 in the Metro Athletic Conference.
Wilson, also assisted by Lisa Modelski, has opposed Hritz before on the court. But now, the presence of Kalbasky and Zetts makes Thursday's game, with the junior varsity starting at 6 p.m., even more intriguing.
"We have it in the back of our [the coaches'] head and the girls do know," Zetts said of the Struthers tie.
"I played under both of them," she said. "You want to beat your old coach."
richesson@vindy.com