FEDERAL LEAGUE Bland looking to guide Boardman to school's 1st state tourney berth

The senior forward has signed a letter of intent to play at Penn State.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- Amber Bland stood in the doorway of Boardman High's gymnasium on Nov. 12 with a fax in her hands from the Georgia Tech women's basketball coach.
It read, "Please give this to Amber! Please have her call me!"
Bland shook her head.
"It's annoying," she said.
Annoying? Really? How many offers do you have?
"I don't know," she said. "A lot."
Bland, who signed with Penn State last week, said it was more than 50. She doesn't really know. She stopped keeping track long ago.
But the reason the attention gets annoying is not because Bland thinks she's great, but because she genuinely can't understand why people make such a fuss about her.
"She's just a great kid," said Boardman coach Ron Moschella. "She listens to everything, she works hard, she's never cocky. She's just somebody unique. A different kind of kid."
True, but there are lots of really nice, hard-working, coachable players out there.
Elite athlete
What separates Bland is her talent.
"She's an elite athlete," Moschella said. "And those don't come around so often. It's an honor to coach her, she's so good.
"I know I get criticized for giving her the ball too much..."
He shook his head, then laughed.
"Yeah, OK," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, she can have the ball whenever she wants."
Bland, a 5-foot, 91/2-inch senior, is a four-year starter for the Spartans who averaged 27.1 points and eight rebounds per game last season.
Tall task
She's the key player for a Boardman team that is hoping to advance to the state tournament for the first time in school history.
It won't be easy.
The Spartans lost four of their top seven players from last year to graduation and another, senior Renee Farina, transferred to Salem. They'll also put their eight-year league title streak on the line when they begin competing in the Federal League this season.
"We'll be a lot different than last year," assistant coach Christine Terlesky said. "We're faster and we're taller."
Are you better?
"I think so," she said.
Boardman's only other returning starter, senior Brittany Durkin, averaged 10 points and five assists per game last season, earning first-team all-Steel Valley Conference honors.
Durkin, who has been friends with Bland since kindergarten, is a four-year letterwinner who will run track and cross country in college.
"I'm gonna miss her," Durkin said. "She's played a major role in my basketball life. I love playing with her. Even if it's just practice, she does something sweet every day. I think I get more excited when she makes a good play."
Supporting cast
The Spartans also return juniors Jessica Moore (6-0) and Emily Hays (6-0), which should shore up their frontcourt. Senior Diane Snyder (5-6) and juniors Liz Yazbek (5-7) and Brittany Sirak (5-2) will add backcourt depth.
One surprise comes from the coaching staff.
Boardman's new junior varsity coach Samantha Harbert is a 1997 North Canton Hoover graduate. And, in case you've forgotten, the Vikings have beaten Boardman in the tournament the past two seasons.
"We don't care about that," Terlesky said.
You don't care that Hoover beat you the past two years?
"Oh, well we care about that," Terlesky said with a laugh. "But we don't care that she's from there."
The Spartans have the talent to make a run at the state title, but to get there, they will need to rely on Bland. She quit track last spring to focus on basketball and traveled around the country in the offseason playing in tournaments.
Now that she's gotten her college decision out of the way, she can focus on her senior season.
She plans to make it a good one.
"It's gonna be a different year," Bland said. "I think we're gonna shock a lot of people."
scalzo@vindy.com