INTER-COUNTY LEAGUE Lowellville's Nero led Eagles in AAU tourney

Amanda Nero will bring valuable AAU experience to the Lowellville team.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
LOWELLVILLE -- Amanda Nero is hoping to capitalize on her national AAU basketball experience this past summer as she enters her junior season with the Lowellville High basketball team.
Nero, a 5-foot-9 guard and two-year letterman for the Rockets, led the Mahoning Valley Eagles' 17-18-year-old girls AAU basketball team to a fourth-place finish at the B.C.I. AAU National Championship tournament, held from July 27 to Aug. 1 in Lubbock, Tex.
She scored about 75 points in seven tourney games, leading her team in scoring three times and sharing the lead once, as the Eagles compiled a 5-2 record under coach Justin Magestro against some of the best talent in the country.
The Eagles' squad also consisted of Jessica Saul (Reynolds High), Lindsay Johnson (Springfield Local), Leah Mastrian (Kennedy Catholic), Leanne Magestro (Kennedy Catholic), Chere Marshall (Hickory), Shaina Smith (Reynolds), Lynle Cornell (Hubbard), Ashley Pendleton (Farrell) and Lynn Renwick (Reynolds).
Justin Magestro also is coach of the Reynolds High girls basketball coach. His assistants on the AAU team were Dion Magestro and Jesse Coon.
All of the Eagles' players still are in high school and will be playing for their basketball teams this season.
Nero is All-American
Nero was one of six players to win All-American, All-Tournament Awards.
Now she hopes to contribute all that she learned over the five-month AAU season to lead Lowellville to another successful season under coach Tony Matisi.
As a sophomore, Nero averaged 18 points and six rebounds a game to lead the Rockets to an 18-3 record, including 12-2 in the ICL to share the championship with Springfield.
She already has scored 757 points in two seasons and is expected to surpass 1,000 this campaign and challenge the school record held by Lisa Rotunno.
Justin Magestro said Nero is a playmaker and sharpshooter who knows how to score.
"Her main asset is she is a very good and strong finisher on a play," Magestro said. "When she makes a move on the basket, she is able to complete the play. She is able to score off the dribble.
"She also is an excellent perimeter shooter and she is a student of a game. She knows the game. She reacts on instinct. It is just automatic with her."
Eagles' spark plug
Nero proved to be the spark plug of the Eagles' team, one of seven age-group squads from the fifth through 12th grades in the spring-summer AAU program based at Hubbard High gym. The program runs from March to August.
Led by Nero, the Eagles got off to a strong start is the national AAU tourney and won their first four games. Overall, they beat two Texas teams and one squad each from Oklahoma, Arizona and Montana.
The national championship was won by Team Texas of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which consisted of five college recruits, three from Division I and two from Div. II.
Runner-up honors went to the West Texas Lady Bulls, which had dealt the Eagles their first loss.
Program helped Nero
Matisi, who enters his sixth season as Lowellvile coach, said the AAU program has made a big difference in Nero's playing ability.
"This AAU team really brought out everything within her. She has gotten so much better in every aspect of the game. We have noticed it in the past," Matisi said. "I think it's because of the girls she is playing with [who are] all her equal and the competition that has brought [her talent] out."
Matisi said the AAU program is for any girl who is really serious about becoming a better basketball player.
"If she is serious about it and has the skills to back it up, that is what you want her to do."
Matisi said Nero was a leader at Lowellville right from the start.
"She started as a freshman. She took right over," said Matisi, noting Nero plays a No. 2 guard. "She is just so competitive. She wants to win everything from the free throw contest we have at practice to every sprint."
Nero's sister, Tami Nero, was a senior on the Lowellvile team last year, and is a freshman at Youngstown State but is bypassing basketball.
More information on the AAU basketball program may be obtained by calling Dion Magestro at (330) 448-4548 or Justin Magestro at (724) 347-7872.
kovach@vindy.com