Struthers senior Dana Mathews top scorer, team player

By JOHN BASSETTI

VIndicator sports staff

If there’s one word to describe Dana Mathews, it’s “plural.”

The Struthers High senior has scored 1,182 points in her 33⁄4 years with the Wildcats and has 357 assists.

To coach John Grandy, that’s the sign of a special individual.

“When someone scores 1,000 points and puts up that many assists, that’s an admirable combination. She is very unselfish with the ball,” Grandy said of her proclivity to distribute. “Add those assists to her total and she’s probably responsible for up to a couple thousand points, easy.”

The 5-foot-6 senior is Struthers’ No. 4 all-time basketball scorer and Grandy thinks his point guard will end up third on the list — regardless of gender.

She most recently passed Missy Gentile and will close in on No. 3 Roseann Scott’s 1,227.

“She can’t reach Bonnie Beachy [1,448], but she may have a chance to catch [No. 2] Rick McFadden [1,336],” Grandy said of the upper-tier occupants of the school’s 1,000-point club.

Grandy discovered Mathews as a sixth-grader.

“I knew she’d be a pretty good player, you could see that. Her father put a lot of time in with her,” Grandy said of Ron Mathews.

The coach is quick to link the ascent of Dana Mathews & Co. with the program’s resurrection.

“Dana and senior classmates and those who have followed along with her have brought the program up,” Grandy said.

“We won 15 and 17 games,” the coach said of Mathews’ sophomore and juniors seasons, respectively, following her freshman year when the Wildcats produced 15 wins.

Struthers, 11-4, recently had an 11-game AAC White Tier win streak snapped by Hubbard.

The Wildcats went 8-0 in the All-American Conference White Tier during 2008-09 and have been in the district tournament the last three years.

“She’s turned the corner for us,” Grandy said of Mathews and teammates who have come up through the system. “They’ve done a good job.”

It helps to have someone like Ashley Baron, whose 11.5 rebounds per game facilitate possessions.

Mathews has been a point guard since middle school.

“At an early age, she was a gym rat because of her father’s influence and he brought her along,” Grandy said. “I think she’s the only girl in the family, so the boys roughed her up a little bit and she got a chance to play against them.

“All that helped make her tough. You hear that story a lot about other girls who have been successful because they started out playing against older brothers.”

Grandy doesn’t hesitate to give credit to others, but his own team’s talent is equally deserving.

“She’s been overshadowed because some of the others [who have scored a 1,000] are in programs that have been winning,” he said of AAC players Amy Scullion of Salem and Jillian Halfhill of Canfield.

“Dana’s brought winning [to Struthers’ girls’ basketball] after an era of being down,” Grandy said of Struthers’ history, which includes a Class AAA state championship for the 1977-78 season. Additionally, the girls’ program is approaching 500 wins.

Grandy zeroed in on Mathews’ attributes.

“I’d be hard-pressed to find somebody [in the area] who is better at knowing the game and seeing the floor,” Grandy said. “As point guard, she’s like a coach on the floor. If you’re open, she’s going to get you the ball.

“Her teammates appreciate that and that’s made us successful. At times, we’ve told her that maybe she threw to the wrong person instead of taking it [shot attempt] herself.”

The coach also extolled other skills.

“She’s like a solo press-breaker in that, if you get her the ball, the press is usually over,” Grandy said. “I’m not saying she’s the best player in the area, but she is the best point guard in the area. She’ll get you the ball.”

Again, Grandy put Mathews’ accomplishments in perspective, using the Halfhill-Scullion scale.

“They’re great players and I’ll be glad when they graduate because I won’t have to coach against them anymore, but, when you play Canfield or Salem — and this is not to take away from Dana’s teammates — you’ve got other people to watch.

“You can’t focus all on Halfhill because you’ve got to watch a lot of other people. Dana has probably faced more box-and-one coverage [or diamond-and-one, which singles out just one player] than either Halfhill or Scullion.”

The coach estimated that his point guard has been the sole target of defenses in half of Struthers’ 40-plus games over the last two years.

Grandy admits that Mathews’ defense could improve and he’s realistic about her college fit, primarily because she hasn’t logged many off-season hours.

“I’d say she’s a Division II or Div. III player. There’s a lack of interest from colleges because she doesn’t play AAU ball in the offseason. She’s a softball player.”

Mathews last played AAU as a freshman.

“Today, that hurts because everybody wants to see you play on a team in the summertime,” Grandy said. “But we’ve been real impressed with her stats during the regular season.”

On the upside, at least Dana isn’t a pawn of the single-sport straitjacket.

“Some people have asked why YSU doesn’t go get her,” Grandy said. “Well, in their league — it’s not to say Dana is not a good player — but I try to be realistic.”

Considering the special attention given Mathews by opponents and her ability to score despite the hundredfold distribution of passes, Grandy is amazed by his prolific point guard.

“When you start looking at assists and scoring, you’re talking about giving it up as much as you are putting it in.”

In the big picture, Mathews is just one cog in the program’s history.

“We’ve come a long way over here, not because of me, but because of people coaching for me in our younger grades.

“I think we’re more competitive now than four or five years ago. I think Dana and her teammates can take credit for that — coming forward and being dedicated and disciplined.”

bassetti@vindy.com