Greendale's latest e-Merg-ing star

Greendale — During the 2006-07 girls basketball season, Mary Merg was a freshman on the Greendale basketball team that made it to the WIAA Division 2 State Tournament.

She spent most of her time on the bench learning from the Panthers' Big Three: Callie Givens, Ashley Imperiale and Melissa Lang, a trio of seniors who were putting the finishing touches on their prep careers just as Merg was beginning hers.

It was an experience that paid huge dividends to Merg over her four-year career.

"I learned a lot from them about the work ethic they had and team-wise," Merg said. "When the coach (Jerry Hastings) left (after) my sophomore year, it was a big setback for us, but we just started a new team and a new beginning. We learned how the past team became successful and put it toward this season."

After a solid junior campaign, Merg had a standout senior effort. She was third in the NOW coverage area with 16.3 points per game, was a first-team Woodland Conference Black Division selection and earned a spot on the NOW All-Suburban Girls Basketball Team.

"This is the kind of career that I worked for," Merg said. "I've always wanted this, to become a successful basketball player. This past year, all the awards that have been given to me, it's just what I worked for."

Merg was asked to carry much of the Panthers' load this season by coach Andrew Schroeder, especially as fellow seniors Lauren Piotrowski and Kelsey Pohlmann, a NOW All-Suburban pick last year, dealt with nagging injuries through the season. Schroeder admits at times he probably asked Merg, who played all 32 minutes in 17 regular-season games, to do too much.

"I'm sure there were times we relied on her too much, but she wanted that pressure," Schroeder said. "She never came out of the game. … I'm sure that took a toll on her but she never showed it.

"I knew we could rely on her but not to the extent that we did. We returned an entire team from the previous season. … We just never got that consistency from the rest of the team. So, we looked to Mary. She rebounded better than anyone on our team (6.4 per game), she created shots for everyone else, she guarded the opponents' biggest weapon - she did everything for us."

Schroeder was most impressed with how Merg, who will play at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater next season, developed into a more complete player this winter.

"Mary always had that scoring mentality," Schroeder said. "From when I coached her in eighth grade until she graduated, she had the shoot-first mentality. We talked about this many times throughout her junior year and the past summer. We discussed the importance of getting everyone involved and how that will make the game much easier for her in the long run. And she took to it. Anyone who just looks at the box scores sees her scoring and 3-pointers, but those that have watched her this past season saw how many opportunities she created for the other girls on our team.

"She took a step back and, in turn, had her best all around season and developed skills necessary to be successful at the next level."