City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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SPRINGFIELD -- Ky McNichol never has to worry about Anabel Kredyt dragging her teammates down.

“She never has a bad day,” the Springfield (Delco.) coach said of the Cougars’ senior. “She’s always happy — she’s always happy to be around the team, happy to be around the coaches, happy to be around her friends. She definitely makes basketball fun.”

More than just a friendly face, Kreydt is a key piece to Springfield’s success; the 5-foot-10 forward is a three-year starter, a team captain and part of the Cougars’ strong senior class. 

When Kreydt was starting for Springfield’s varsity as a sophomore, her job was simple: defend, and rebound. Those Cougars had Alexa Abbonzio and Rachel Conran, two 1,000-point scorers, and so Kreydt was able to keep it simple, offensive production not her priority. Even last year, on a team with no seniors, she was still focused on playing her role. 

Now it’s her year to shine.

“This year just really came to life,” she said. “I have to do everything.”

It’s not that Kreydt has to do everything alone — she has plenty of support, from lifelong teammates and classmates Mia Valerio and Lexi Aaron to fellow seniors Kaitlyn Kearny and Taylor Hunyet, all of whom bring plenty to the Cougars starting lineup. It’s that Kreydt has to contribute in a variety of ways to play her best game, no longer able to focus on one or two areas.

Kreydt showed her all-around value on Thursday night as Springfield beat Radnor 47-32 in the Central League opener for both teams. Her six points helped in the win, but not as much as her 10 rebounds (five offensive), five steals and three assists, helping the Cougars to their first win of the season after they dropped their season opener to Bishop Shanahan.

“It feels good to be back,” she said. “This is a basketball school, especially for girls, it’s a huge season here, it takes up most of the school year [...] ll the teachers are into it, everybody in the school’s so into it, it’s a great community when you come back from a win, I just love it.”

Springfield won 19 games last year, the then-junior class learning how to lead without any seniors ahead of them, dealing with Aaron injuring her knee five games into the season and still having a relatively successful year, not defending their District 1 5A titles of the previous two years but making it to the state tournament and gaining valuable experience this season.

Kreydt (above, second from right) helped Springfield (Delco.) force 17 turnovers on Thursday night. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Kreydt and the Cougars buckled down defensively last year, something they still take pride in, even if this year’s group will be higher-scoring. Kreydt’s production tended to come off feeds from the guards, slipping to the bucket and finishing; now she’s looking at scoring in tougher situations.

“[I’ve been working on] my put-backs,” she said. “Majorly. In the last game, it was very natural, whereas last year, I would get it but I would look to kick it out. This year I’m looking to go up stronger and just finish.”

“Her role sophomore year was defend and rebound, guard one of their bigs, and now her role is still defend and rebound, but you’ve got to put some points on the board for us,” McNichol said. “I would say her biggest improvement’s been finishing around the glass.”

The Cougars are not blessed with a ton of height, most of the senior guards standing between 5-4 and 5-8, which makes Kreydt the de facto ‘big’ on the team, though she would likely fit in as a ‘3’ on some of the taller squads in the region. 

Her role as the ‘5’ for the Cougars is critical towards creating space for their shooters, her passing ability out of the high and low post a big reason that Springfield (Delco.) went 6-of-13 from deep against Radnor, all four of the other starters hitting at least one from deep.

“We always tell them, Anabel’s got to touch the ball,” McNichol said. “She might not score it, but she’s got to touch it, it’s got to go inside and then it can go back out.”

Thursday night was a balanced offensive attack that saw Kearney, a Widener hoops commit, lead the way with 12 points, going 7-of-8 from the line; Aaron added nine points, four steals and three rebounds; Valerio chipped in eight points, four assists, three rebounds an three steals; Hunyet seven points, four rebounds, an assist and steal. The bench only scored five points, but the five reserves who played throughout the first few quarters all gave them good minutes.

Springfield locked down on Radnor (2-1), holding the Raptors without a field goal in both the second and fourth quarters, though the visitors did go 18-of-22 from the foul line. Radnor senior Mary Sareen had a terrific night with 22 points while going 12-of-14 from the foul line, with a pair of 3-pointers, adding eight rebounds, five steals and two assists.

“Sareen’s a really nice player,” McNichol said, “and she was able to get to the rim quite often tonight.”

Kryedt’s also a three-sport athlete, like Valerio and Aaron, her lifelong teammates on the court, the trio playing hoops together since before they were five years old, now all playing soccer in the fall and lacrosse in the spring.

Unlike Valerio (Richmond) and Aaron (Towson), both playing lacrosse in college, Kreydt isn’t sure what’s next for her. She’s applying to colleges, still considering whether she wants to pursue lacrosse at the next level or just enjoy being a student. 

“It’s sad, it’s the last of everything this year, but like once we get on the court together…we love basketball, we’ve been playing it for so long,” she said. “I don’t want to see it end, but it’s going to be a good season.”

By Quarter
Springfield: 11  |  14  |  10  |  12  ||  47
Radnor:       8   |   5   |  12  |   7   ||  32

Shooting
Springfield: 16-45 FG (6-13 3PT), 9-15 FT
Radnor: 6-33 FG (2-9 3PT), 18-22 FT

Scoring
Springfield: Kearney 12, Aaron 9, Valerio 8, Hunyet 7, Kreydt 6, Fattore 3, Estep 2
Radnor: Sareen 22, Gallagher 7, Dole 2, Monahan 1