Led by new head coach Jason Bieber, Brandywine Heights girls basketball has big expectations

Dec. 6—Coming off one of its best seasons in program history, Brandywine Heights looks to have another strong year in Division IV of the Berks Girls Basketball League and make another deep postseason run in 2022-23.

While they return quite a few players from last year's team, there is one major difference in Mertztown — a new coach.

Jason Bieber is the head coach of the Bullets after spending 13 years at Boyertown and four at Tulpehocken. Bieber accumulated over 220 wins as coach of the Bears, highlighted by a PIAA Class 6A title in 2017.

"Our main focus is always going to be a family atmosphere," Bieber said. "We're going to be unselfish."

Brandywine Heights returns four of its top six scorers from a season ago, three of whom are juniors. With a lot of talent coming back, the Bullets are focused on learning and implementing Bieber's schemes.

"We're all coming in with a freshman mindset," point guard Olivia Moyer said. "This is all new to us. It's a different way of teaching, and he's really good with helping us through it."

Moyer, a junior, and fellow juniors Avery Potteiger and Dana Wartzenluft are back after each averaged around five points per game last season ago. Wartzenluft ranked second on the team with 25 3-pointers.

"They definitely play well off of each other," Bieber said. "They play well together."

Brandywine Heights also welcomes back sophomore Addison Benner, who was the team's leading scorer and the county's top freshman a year ago. Benner, a guard, averaged 14.1 points per game and hit 39 3-pointers, the fifth-most in the county.

"She's a great athlete (and) wants to learn," Bieber said. "She's going to have a great season."

Led by Benner, the Bullets won Berks IV a year ago with an 11-1 record. With an experienced squad, Brandywine Heights has its sights set on repeating as division champions this season.

"We definitely know what we're all capable of," Benner said. "We just got to work harder this year. We have a lot of athleticism."

The Bullets, 18-8 a year ago, finished third in the District 3 Class 3A playoffs and qualified for the PIAA Tournament for the first time since 1980. This year, Brandywine Heights is looking to have more playoff success.

"It was a really good experience for us," Moyer said. "We want to make it further. We know we can make it that far, it's just whether we push ourselves to get that far again."

The Bullets began their regular season last Friday, scoring a win over Tri-Valley before defeating Annville-Cleona on Saturday. Moyer led the team with 18 total points.

"They played as well as a team," Bieber said about. "We still have a lot of work to do."

While there is room for improvement and a long season ahead, confidence is sky high at Brandywine Heights.

"People should believe in us a lot more if they don't already," Benner said. "This year is definitely going to be different than last year, and we're going to be more successful."