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Prepping for Preps '22-23: George School (Girls)

11/11/2022, 12:45pm EST
By Lochlahn March

Lochlahn March (@lochlahn)

(Ed. Note: This story is part of 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 2022-23 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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George School has plans to become a basketball school. 

The girl’s varsity basketball team is coming off a 12-10 season last year, including a 3-5 record in the Friends School League. For second-year head coach La’Keisha Sutton, sixth in the conference just won’t be enough this season. With a returning star and an influx of fresh talent, the young team is confident they have the size and skill to compete with the best of the FSL.  

Last year’s team qualified for the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Commonwealth Cup — private school squads who didn’t make the main 10-team PAISAA state championship bracket — but dropped the title game, a 42-40 home loss to Hill School. 

George School returns just three starters, headlined by sophomore Priyanka Ponnam, who was the only George School player and the only freshman in the conference to be named first-team All League last year. 

“I feel like I’ve proved to people what I can do for the following years to come,” Ponnam said. “Coming back as a sophomore, I have a feel for the team now and being a leader, and I’ve learned a lot of things.”


George School sophomore Priyanka Ponnam was an all-league selection last season as a freshman. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

Ponnam is 6-foot-2, and has aspirations to play for a Power 5 school one day. She has already received an offer from Rutgers.

“[Ponnam] is talented. She can shoot the ball, she can get to the rim, she can post up, she can face up. She can really stretch the floor out,” Sutton said. “I told her, you can literally dominate every single game if you just have the right mental approach. I’m trying to treat her like a pro.”

Also returning are 5-6 junior point guard Sophia Martinez and 5-10 sophomore forward Ava Gregario, while seven transfer students round out the roster. Junior Gianna Johnson comes to George School from Conwell-Egan, and the 6-5 center will likely secure a starting spot.

“It’s been pretty easy to build chemistry with each other,” Johnson said. “Everybody kind of already knows each other through AAU basketball, and then I know a couple of girls coming from public school in ninth grade.”

Johnson first connected with Sutton while training under her at Sutton’s gym, The Fan Favorite Club. Sutton locates most of her George School recruits organically via her trainees. 

Other transfers expected to make significant contributions on the court this year for the Cougars include 6-2 junior post Carissa Frederick (Ranney, N.J.), 5-10 junior guard Basha Harrington (Germantown Academy), and 5-7 sophomore guard Ellie Remus (Pennsbury).

With no seniors currently on the roster, sophomores and juniors are slotting into leadership roles. 

“Everybody’s young,” Martinez said. “I’ve had to take a leadership role the past two years, but it’s come a long way and it’s been a natural change.”

This year’s squad has lost only shooting guard Paiyton Penn to graduation, leaving a void on defense.

“[Penn] was our best defender. She was our 3-point shooter, she got to the basket. We don’t have a Paiyton Penn on this year’s team, but I’m hoping that our guards collectively can fill in what she gave us,” Sutton said.


Gianna Johnson, a 6-5 junior center, transferred to George School this season from Conwell-Egan. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

Sutton’s own basketball resume is long. Her coaching philosophy is shaped by her experience playing under another legendary coach from the area: Dawn Staley. Sutton was Staley’s very first signee as head coach of South Carolina back in 2008. Sutton was a four-year starter with the Gamecocks, racking up 1,263 career points and leading the team to the Sweet Sixteen in 2012. 

A Trenton, N.J. native, Sutton returned to the area to coach the George School following a professional basketball career that took her to Taiwan, Finland, Ecuador, Germany, and Bulgaria. In 2018, she became the first woman from New Jersey and ninth woman overall to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. 

“[Sutton] is very inspiring,” Ponnam said. “I learned a lot of my basketball skill and IQ through her, and it’s really special. And then also, moving on to college, we get an idea of what it's going to be like [from her].”

Despite its youth, George School has already set its sights high. To be exact, the team has its eyes on Westtown, the goliaths of the FSL who boasted a 13-0 record in conference play last season. In their last meeting, the Cougars lost 73-16. But that’s all in the past now — and George School already has the first rematch circled on its calendar: Jan. 6, 2023. Sutton hopes a difference-maker this year will be the Cougars’ preseason preparation. 

“Last year I literally just showed up during the tryouts,” Sutton said. “Our first practice was the following day and we were playing our first game a week later.” 

In her second season, Sutton is trying to do things a little differently, and has arranged for her players to participate in showcases and exhibition tournaments before the season has started. This preparation has been especially important to build chemistry, with so many new faces to the program. 

It was Sutton’s former high school basketball coach, the late Khaliq Lewis-El, who reinforced to her the importance of preseason training. Lewis-El had been the first to tell Sutton about the George School opening and had even joined Sutton’s coaching staff as an assistant last season. 

Lewis-El passed away a week after George School’s final game, its PAISAA Commonwealth Championship loss. He had watched the game from the hospital. 

“He sent me a text and said, ‘I’m so proud of you, continue to take these girls where you know you can take them. But this is why it’s important to have a preseason and girls that buy in,” Sutton said. “Because do you want to always be losing a championship, or do you want to be holding up the actual trophy like we used to do in high school?’”

“I’m taking everything even more personal with the George School, because he was so passionate. He believed that we could really change this program around, so you know, hopefully his spirit carries us along this journey.”


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