City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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(Ed. Note: This story is the latest in CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2021-22 season preview coverage. As we publish more, the complete list of schools previewed will be found here.)

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There’s going to be tears. Whether they are tears of happiness in March or tears of sorrow in February is yet to be determined. But the one certainty Pennsbury girls’ basketball coach Frank Sciolla and his daughter—and star player—Ava can agree on is that their last game will be an emotional one.

It’s Frank who took Ava to practice. His practices, when he was coaching Pennsbury, Bristol and Conwell-Egan’s boys, where she was a constant behind the bench. Her practices, when the ball was about as big her when she was first learning the game.

Ava, a 6-foot senior point guard who is headed to Maryland, gravitated to basketball above soccer, swimming, softball, and a half-a-dozen other things she did. Frank laughs that he wishes he had some master plan. He didn’t. Ava’s basketball genesis was her father dropping her off at a summer workout that the AAU Mid-Atlantic Magic were having run by one of Frank’s former players, Jesse Krasna.

Frank came back to pick up Ava and asked her how it went. She said she had fun. He brought her back. Ava was in third grade. Her game began growing and developing. It reached a point to where Ava is one of the best high school basketball players in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

It’s led to a scholarship at Maryland and being the focal point of a District 1 6A contender. Frank says Ava is the “best passer that I’ve ever coached.” She’s a perfectionist—like her father. Often with like magnets, they repel each other. Frank can be demanding and his coaching style comes with high expectations, and through time, Frank and Ava learned to create boundaries.

“I did not prefer to coach her at first, to be honest, so it’s not something that (I) wanted to do and I didn’t think that I would have to do, but circumstances turned out that way,” Frank said. “However, I will say it’s been the ride of a lifetime and I don’t look at Ava as my daughter when we’re playing. She’s really good, and she’s really unselfish.

“When we talk about basketball, it’s always in front of the team, because we want to keep that relationship separate. You have these games and Ava is playing at a high level and I recognize that I am demanding, and you have to be careful not to take it home. Even though you try, it’s hard for those feelings to not spill over at times. We learned not to take it home.”

As a sophomore, Ava played a big role in the Falcons reaching the PIAA District 1 Class 6A finals, losing to Central Bucks West. She’s been the key factor in Pennsbury’s consecutive Suburban One Patriot League championships. Last year, the Falcons finished 17-5. Pennsbury had not won back-to-back league titles since the 1970s, according to Frank.

A three-time all-Suburban One Patriot choice, Ava went over the 1,000-point mark as a junior and will be drawing considerable attention this season. It won’t be anything new, since she’s been double-teamed from her freshman year.

Pennsbury’s success will depend on who’s around Ava. Back for the Falcons are 5-foot-4 senior guard Nicole Pompili—who is headed to Elizabethtown and is coming back after losing her junior season to a foot injury—5-4 sophomore guard Sofia Vitucci, 5-7 sophomore forward Layla Matthias, 5-8 sophomore forward Danielle Sherman, 5-5 junior guard Nevaeh Dash, 5-2 junior guard Neve Davis and 5-5 sophomore guard Daniella MacDonald.

“We have a different team this year, because we have more offensive threats than we did previously,” Ava said. “Everyone has to be guarded, which changes the dynamic of how I’m covered, because I can’t necessarily be double-teamed if we have other four different girls who can score the ball.

“I helped handle the ball in the past, and this is a transition to being the one, where I’m probably going to play in college,” Ava said. “I’m ready for that. We’ll need to remain consistent on both sides of the floor and hold each other accountable for that consistency.”

As a sophomore, Pompili was an honorable-mention all-league selection. She suffered a Lisfranc injury in July 2020, which tested her, and she says she’s 100-percent healthy now.

“I was afraid I wouldn’t ever come back and play the same again,” Pompili said. “I’m a rough player. I’ve had injuries here and there, but nothing that serious. I feel even better now than before the injury. There is something about this team. We clicked early, and we’ve spent more time together off the court, creating relationships.

“We’re going to be playing a team every game that will be taller than us. I might be small, but I play bigger than I am. We’re going to need to rebound to win. We have the people to do it. Rebounding is the key if we’re going to get to states this year.”

And for Ava and Frank and the inevitable end, “when it’s over, it’s going to be really difficult for both of us,” Ava admitted. “My dad will probably break down first. I remember as a little kid running around with the ball at my dad’s Pennsbury practices; I remember all of it. Ending at Hershey (for the state championship) with my dad would be an amazing ending.”

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.