VIDEO: New Coach Gavin Prosser Previews Highlanders Girls Hoops

The  varsity girls basketball team has compiled an average record of 18-7 over the past four seasons, including three consecutive WPIAL playoffs appearances, a WPIAL championship game berth and two trips to the PIAA playoffs.

But the team's newest head coach, Baldwin High alum , has a career head coaching record of 0-0.

As with , the Highlanders girls will play under a new head coach during the 2011-12 season, a coach that is leading a varsity basketball team for the first time.

Though, Prosser is not without some pedigree. He was an all-WPIAL point guard as a player for the Highlanders, scoring over 1,200 career points and leaving the school as its second all-time leading male scorer.

He comes back to Baldwin after being an assistant coach with Point Park University men's hoops over the past two seasons. Prosser was a former standout player at Point Park and ranks in the top 10 in the men's team's history in points, assists, steals, 3-pointers made, free throws made and free throws attempted. He was a three-time all-American Mideast Conference selection as well as a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics honorable mention All-American.

Over the summer, the Baldwin-Whitehall School Board hired Prosser as its head varsity girls coach to take over the program from , who was removed as the head coach in June after six seasons.

The Highlanders girls first test this season will be a tournament at Indiana Area High School on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 9 and 10.

Baldwin's girls went 17-6 overall during the 2010-11 season, including a 9-3 record in Section 4 of the WPIAL's AAAA, or highest, classification.

Section 4 is considered to be one of the WPIAL's premier sections and includes Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park, , ,  and high schools.

Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park, Baldwin and Upper St. Clair each advanced to the WPIAL playoffs in 2011, with Mt. Lebo, Bethel and Baldwin all earning at least one postseason win.

Baldwin's campaign ended in the second round of the WPIAL playoffs with a 39-28 neutral-site loss to Oakland Catholic High School, but Mt. Lebo and Bethel both advanced to and earned wins in the state playoffs, with Mt. Lebo marching all the way to its third straight PIAA championship.

The highlight of the Highlanders' 2010-11 campaign was a 48-46 triumph at Mt. Lebanon on Jan. 3, breaking a streak of 20 straight home section wins for the Blue Devils.

The Highlanders will try to get past their section nemeses again this season but will have to do it without departing all-state guard/forward Belma Nurkic, who graduated in June and is now playing for Duquesne University.

Burkic was a 2011 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fabulous Five selection.

Prosser and returning senior point guard Taylor Wentzel conducted interviews with the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch on Thursday during a team practice session, and each spoke about what lies ahead of them this coming season, including adjusting to a new coaching staff, playing without Nurkic and what the team's goals are.

Prosser spoke of Wentzel, a 5-foot-6 tri-captain, as one of the players that the Highlanders will rely on this season to offset the loss of Nurkic. Senior guard Carly Corcoran (5-foot-4) and senior forward/center  (6-foot-2) are the team's other captains.

Prosser also points to a strong group of sophomores who could all prove to be big contributors: 5-foot-9 guard/forward Taylor Letender, 5-foot-9 forward Taylor Duchon, 5-foot-9 forward Liz Spegar and 5-foot-3 guards and sisters Amanda and Tori Johnston.

Guard Chelsea Ammann, at 5-foot-6, is the team's only junior.

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