By: Mike Whaley

Sometimes you need look no further than your own backyard to make things better. That’s the route the Plymouth State College women’s basketball program has taken to rebuild itself after 13 straight seasons in which the Panthers never won more than 10 games and five times lost as many as 20.

Last year, Plymouth turned to former PSU men’s star and Berlin-native Curtis Arsenault to rebuild the program. Arsenault, in turn, has put part of his boundless energy and passion into recruiting New Hampshire women. The current squad has eight Granite State players on the roster.

The Panthers responded last year by going 11-14 overall, the program’s best record since the 2009-10 season (17-11). They also went 7-9 in the ultra-competitive Little East Conference, the team’s best conference record in 21 years.

“It was important for me to give back,” said Arsenault, who spent the previous six years as an assistant with the Plymouth State women’s team (2017-19), Laconia High School boys squad (2019-21) and Plymouth State men’s team (2021-23). “It wasn’t something where I thought I would be a head coach with my full-time career.” Arsenault is a police officer in the Lakes Region.

Things fell into place for Arsenault to get the job, which is the only part-time head post in the Little East Conference. A week before the Plymouth job opened up in April of 2023, Arsenault was hired as a School Resource Officer (SRO) in Gilford, a position that carries with it a stable 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. commitment versus shift work, which can be inconsistent.

He talked with his wife about the position. He didn’t think she’d necessarily be onboard, but she was. “I couldn’t sit back and watch it anymore,” Arsenault said. “They were struggling so much. I just thought it was really important that whoever took over was somebody who really cared about the women’s program, the kids and it was somebody who was going to fight for them.”

That was Arsenault, who “bleeds green.” He’s been an assistant coach for both basketball programs, he starred on the men’s team (2013-17, 1,236 career points), and met his wife at Plymouth. “I love the university and everything it’s done for me,” he said. “I plan to work hard on getting this program up and going again because it’s really struggled for a really long time.” Arsenault feels he’s had good training to set him up as a head coach, mentioning the three important coaches in his life: Don Picard (Berlin HS), Jay Tilton (Phillips Exeter Academy) and Andrew Novick (Plymouth State). He singled out Picard’s ability to change style of play year-to-year to play to the strengths of his team. Arsenault lauded Tilton’s intensity and passion for the game he brings every day and his ability to get his teams to completely buy in to what he is doing. As for Novick, he noted the coach’s next level mastery of Xs and Os and his uncanny ability to make adjustments on the fly.

Arsenault recalls getting the job and needing to quickly get up to speed on women’s basketball in the state after being on the Plymouth men’s side for two years. “I needed to start reaching out to people,” he said. “I just reached out to people in the basketball world.” One of those people was Carl Doucet, who runs Manchester Baller’s Association. Doucet was integral in helping Arsenault to successfully navigate the girls’ side in the state. He built his connections from there.

Last year was a breakthrough season, part of the success due to some quality last-minute Granite State additions. One was Bow’s Lea Crompton, a four-year player at VTSU-Lyndon with another year of eligibility due to Covid-19. She was at Plymouth as a graduate student, but was convinced to play.

Londonderry’s Bri Wilcox (Bishop Guertin) was a transfer from Rivier University, getting to school two days before classes started. The duo ended up being 1-2 in scoring, and Wilcox was named to the All-LEC Second Team and the All-Defensive Team. Wilcox, a junior, had another year of eligibility, but Arsenault said she has stepped away from basketball for the moment.

“We got some last-minute kids that fell into our lap a little bit,” he said.

This year’s team is off to a 2-7 start. There have been some struggles on offense as the absence of Wilcox and Crompton can be felt. Defensively, the Panthers are right there. Of the eight N.H. players, five are seeing quality time and a sixth could be a factor if she is cleared to play next month following an ACL injury.

When Arsenault was hired in 2023, it was late in the recruiting process, which put him behind the eight ball. Wilcox and Crompton obviously were huge additions, but even with the lateness of the recruiting hour, Arsenault still was able to get Ashley Stephens, a quality 5-10 forward from Pembroke. She currently leads the Panthers in scoring (8.2 ppg).

A 2022 graduate of Pembroke Academy, Stephens was burnt out from basketball and decided to take a different path after graduating. She joined the United States Army. It was while in the Army that Stephens realized that she missed basketball. She had two close friends attending the University of Southern Maine, so she committed there in the spring of 2023 when she returned from basic training.

There was a coaching change at USM. Arsenault had been reaching out to Stephens to no avail, but finally she answered a call from him. He convinced her to come to Plymouth. “He was really excited and seemed super motivated and passionate. His passion kind of sparked my own,” Stephens said. “I was really excited by the energy I got through that phone call. I made the switch right then and there.”

Stephens played a key role as a freshman. She played in all 25 games, starting in 24. She averaged 7.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. “Last year, coach brought so much passion and energy,” she said. “We were just so motivated. We came into every game knowing that the only people that believed in us were us. He kept saying that from the beginning. We really had faith.”

Another N.H. player who was pivotal a year ago was 5-10 senior forward Alli Ingalls from Hampstead. A transfer from Western New England University, she came to Plymouth half way through the 2022-23 season and played in all 25 games last year.

When Plymouth made the coaching change last season, Ingalls recalls the team collectively felt about Arsenault “That’s the one. We need him basically to change the program.”

As a captain she tries to motivate her teammates and make sure they are working as hard as they can. She is one of the leading scorers (5.9 ppg) and a top inside presence on defense.

Sophie George has perhaps the most compelling story. The Meredith native played her high school ball at the prep level at the Tilton School, which included a championship run during her sophomore year. Unfortunately she essentially missed two of her previous three seasons with Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries to one knee and then the other.

As a high school senior, she missed her whole senior year with an ACL injury. As a freshman, she enrolled at Plymouth State after committing to Merrimack College and went on to have a great season, averaging a team-high 14.4 ppg to earn LEC Rookie-of-the-Year honors. However four games into last year she suffered an ACL tear to her other knee. The 5-6 junior guard is hoping to get cleared to play in January.

“It’s been hard to keep positive,” she said. “My teammates have been amazing. Everyone always checks up on me. One of the toughest parts is trusting it (the knee) again.” Because of the nature of the injury, George had no choice but to sit around for five months before she could do any sort of work out, which means regaining endurance has been difficult. “I was able to trust my other (ACL) when I came back. It was easier than I thought it would be,” she said. “Coming around the second time I think is going to be a little tougher. I’m just excited to play again.” If George can pass a return-to-sport (RTS) test later this month, she will be cleared for a full return to the team next month.

“The thing that keeps me going the most is this is going to be the end of my basketball career,” she said. “Once I got hurt again, I didn’t want to go out that way. I can’t imagine not playing. I’m excited to be tired. I’m excited to be sore again. I’m excited to have all those feelings again. I haven’t had it for so long.”

Three first-year players who are having an impact are junior transfer Elli Cox (Deerfield), and freshmen Kaley Goodhart (Center Conway) and Torle Adumene (Manchester). Cox played sparingly during two seasons at LEC power Rhode Island College. Teammate Hailey Malozzi transferred to Plymouth last year and convinced Cox, a 5-9 guard, to follow. She is just getting back into the swing of things after suffering a broken toe during the preseason.

Cox said one thing that spurred her interest in Plymouth was coach Arsenault working to turn the program around. “He thought I could help,” she said. “I wanted to help with that. That made me want to come.”

Goodhart, a 5-3 point guard, came from Kennett High School, where she was part of the Eagles 2023 Division II championship team. She liked Arsenault’s rebuilding culture. “It sounded like a determined, motivated team and that’s something I wanted to be a part of.” Having been thrown into the fire as a starting freshman point guard, Goodhart is embracing the challenge. “I have to deal with more pressure here,” she said. “I need to remind myself that I’m young, shake it off and do the best I can.”

“She’s been thrust out there and she’s playing 25-30 minutes a game against top level athletes,” Arsenault said. “She didn’t see that at the Division II public school level in New Hampshire, so there’s been an adjustment there. She competes. She’s a gamer. She’s had some incredibly good moments this year and she’s had some moments where she’s struggled a little bit. I love it because I know she’s going to push through.”

Adumene saw opportunities to play as a freshman. “I’m just trying to do all the little things,” she said. “I’m playing good defense and being energetic off the bench.” Because she played for the Manchester Memorial program, Arsenault knew “she’d be able to slide right in. She’s super athletic. She defends. She rebounds. She’s working on expanding her offensive game.” 

A chance to play right away is part of Arsenault’s message as he attempts to rebuild the program. “This is a great spot,” he said. “There’s opportunity here that you necessarily might not get at other schools when you’re a freshman or a sophomore because we’re still building.”

Even though the Panthers are currently struggling, Arsenault feels good about the effort and the fact they’ve been in games (four losses by nine points or less). “PSU teams before this were getting run out of the gym,” he said. “Even though we’re not winning games, we’re still right there. We kind have got to learn to win again. It’s just jelling and getting consistent and doing a lot of the little things, and getting those tough losses to be close wins. It’s about building a culture that’s going to play, hard and the right way.”

Arsenault pauses, adding: “The word just needs to continue to spread. Plymouth State isn’t like it used to be.”