City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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With exams underway or upcoming and semesters coming to an end, we’ve hit a natural break in the local small college hoops season. Many teams are wrapping up the first parts of their season and won’t play again until the new year.

There’s been some eye-opening starts to the season in the area for not only a few teams but individuals, ranking among the tops in country in the area. Here are few of the statistical standouts thus far:

Neumann’s Klieber, Vaughns among nation’s scoring leader

There are some bucket-getters over in Aston. Both the Neumann men’s and women’s programs have a Top 10 D-III scorer in the country. Men’s junior forward Jalen Vaughns ranks No. 7 at 24.2 ppg and women’s junior guard Lauren Klieber ranks ninth at 22.9 ppg.

Vaughns, a Pocono Mountain West product, was the Atlantic East Player of the Year last season when he averaged 22.0 ppg (19th nationally) and 9.7 rpg. He’s already been named conference player of the week twice this season and his averages are both up a bit from last season’s impressive campaign.

The 6-foot-7 wing has reached double figures in all 41 games of his college career. He had 17 outings of 20-or-more points, including five 30-point games, in 29 contests last season. 

Vaughns has gone for 20-or-more points in 10 of his team’s 12 games this season, including a season-high 34 points in a victory over Washington College on Dec. 8 — part of a four-game win streak for the Knights to end the 2022 part of their schedule with a 9-3 mark. Oh, and he’s doing all this with unbelievable efficiency, making 60.8 percent of his shots.

Klieber’s breakout campaign has been much more of a surprise. The 5-foot-9 guard from West Chester East averaged 6.2 ppg as a freshman last season, breaking into double figures just six times as she averaged 15.8 minutes per game off the bench.

Klieber’s season started with a bang when she went off for a still career-high 29 points in a loss to Arcadia on Nov. 8 to tip-off the 2022-23 campaign. She started with six consecutive outings of 20+ points and has gone for 20-or-more in eight of the Knights’ 10 games in a 5-5 start. She’s scored 18 in the two games she didn’t reach 20.

A fun little note on Neumann’s sensational scorers … The most points they’ve combined for on a single date is 54 when Klieber scored 26 against Wilkes and Vaughns scored 28 against Salisbury.

East Stroudsburg’s Weise is one of a kind

East Stroudsburg senior guard Ryan Weise is in a class of her own early this season.

Weise is averaging 21.4 ppg (9th in D-II) to go along with 7.3 apg (5th in D-II). She has the distinction of being the only Division II player — men or women — to rank in the Top 10 in the country in scoring and assists per game.

The 5-foot-8 guard from Allentown, N.J. started her college career at LIU Brooklyn, where she averaged 8.1 ppg and 3.3 apg, making 33 starts (26 as a freshman) and played in 48 games over two seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Weise was the Warriors’ leader in scoring (13.3 ppg) and assists(4.0 apg) last season during a 4-21 campaign. She began this season with 31 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and five steals and followed with 30-11-5-4, 28-7-7-0 and 30-6-7-2 in her next three games’ respectively.

Her numbers have cooled a bit in East Stroudsburg’s most recent outing, but Weise’s giant leap seems to be a big reason the Warriors are out to a 6-2 start, much improved from the squad that struggled a season ago.

Weise isn’t the only local D-II women’s player who likes sharing. Three of the top five assist leaders come from local programs. West Chester junior Leah Johnson (8.0 apg) ranks second, Jefferson junior Morgan Robinson (7.6 apg) ranks fourth and Weise (7.3 apg) ranks fifth.

Statsheet stuffers in the Centennial

Franklin & Marshall junior Jaclyn Feit (4.78 bpg), Haverford senior Cortlyn Morris (3.64 bpg) and Gettysburg sophomore Shinya Lee (3.57 bpg) are the top three blocks leaders in the Centennial Conference. They also rank first, fourth and fifth, respectively, among Division III women’s shot blockers.

Feit, a 6-foot-3 forward from Charlotte, N.C., was tied with teammate Kenna Williams at 34th in Division III last season, averaging 2.16 blocks per game in just 13.4 minutes of action per contest. With Williams graduated, Feit is averaging 25.2 minutes per game this season and piling up stuffs. She has multiple blocks in all nine games and four-or-more blocks in seven games, including a career-high 10 against Elizabethtown on Nov. 13.

Morris ranked sixth in D-III last in blocks per game (3.04 bpg) and has continued to deter opponents inside this season. The 6-foot forward from Bound Brook, N.J.  anchors a Haverford defense that is holding opponents to 49.1 ppg (21st nationally) and 32.2 percent shooting from the field (38th).

Lee tallied nine blocks in 16 games last season, averaging just 7.7 minutes per contest. The 5-foot-11 forward from Rochester, N.Y. is still coming off the bunch but has been a difference maker on the defensive end in her 20.6 minutes per game.

Shippensburg’s Sleva dominating the glass

Senior Dom Sleva entered Shippensburg in 2018-19 with a tough act to follow as his older brother Dustin concluded his Raiders’ career as an All-American in the season prior.

However, the 6-foot-6 forward from Montour is finishing up an impressive career with his best season to state, averaging 15.3 ppg and 11.9 rpg, which ranks second in Division II. Dustin averaged 11.0 rpg twice in his career but Sleva — who averaged 10.4 ppg and 9.1 rpg last season — can maintain his current pace on the glass he’d have at least one bragging right over his older brother.

Circle the calendar for Jan. 21 and Feb. 8, when Sleva matches up with Kutztown and D-II’s fifth leading rebounder Robert Tucker (11.1 rpg).

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Here are the rest of the local small college players in the Top 25 of statistical categories in the country:

D-III Women’s

Points per game
9 - Lauren Klieber, So., Neumann (22.9 pug)

Assists per game
9 - Alaysha Iwais, Jr., Lancaster Bible (5.6 apg)

Rebounds per game
4 - Jade Eshelman, So., Lancaster Bible (14.3 rpg)
6 - Gabby Boggs, Sr., Albright (13.9 rpg)
16 - Kayla Robinson, Sr., Haverford (12.6 rpg)

Blocks per game
1 - Jaclyn Feit, Jr., Franklin & Marshall (4.78 bpg)
4 - Cortlyn Morris, Sr., Haverford (3.64 bpg)
5 - Shinya Lee, So., Gettysburg (3.57 bpg)
13 - Katie Rodriguez, Jr., Cabrini (2.90 bpg)
22 - Mikaela Reese, Jr., DeSales (2.62 bpg)

D-III Men’s

Points per game
7 - Jalen Vaughns, Jr., Neumann (24.2 ppg)
18 - Jamal Cannady Jr., Bryn Athyn (22.4 ppg)

Assists per game
12 - Jesse Rivera, Sr., Cairn (6.6 apg)
16 - Ryan Starr, Sr., Neumann (6.1 apg)

Rebounds per game
9 - Jalen Watkins, Sr. , Arcadia (12.3 rpg)
19 - Adam Stolzfus, Sr. , Lancaster Bible (11.0 rpg)

Blocks per game
24 - Zubair Lee, Fr., Eastern (2.58 big)
25 - Andrew Zentner, Jr., Lancaster Bible (2.57 bpg)

Steals per game
4 - Eric Chamberlain, So., Albright (3.56 spg)
16 - Jaron Fairweather, Sr., Eastern (2.92 spg)
21 - Grant Sareyka, Jr., Lancaster Bible (2.86 spg)

D-II Women’s

Points per game
8 - Ariel Jones, Sr., Shippensburg (21.7 ppg)
9 - Ryan Weise, Sr., East Stroudsburg (21.4 ppg)

Assists per game
2 - Leah Johnson, Jr., West Chester (8.0 apg)
4 - Morgan Robinson, Jr., Jefferson (7.6 apg)
5 - Ryan Weise, Sr., East Stroudsburg (7.3 apg)

Rebounds per game
11 - Imani Gillette, Fr., Georgian Court (11.1 rpg)
25 - Sam Yencha, So., Jefferson (10.1 rpg)

Blocks per game
18 - Casey Remolde, Sr., Kutztown (1.88 bpg)

Steals per game
16 - Erika Aspajo, So., Georgian Court (3.0 spg)
16 - Brenna Ortwein, So., Millersville (3.0 spg)

D-II Men’s

Points per game
15 - Erik Timko, So., Jefferson (21.7 ppg)

Rebounds per game
2 - Dom Sleva, Sr., Shippensburg (11.9 rpg)
5 - Robert Tucker, Sr., Kutztown (11.1 rpg)
16 - David Robinson Jr., So., Holy Family (9.8 rpg)
23 - Jake Nelson, Sr., Bloomsburg (9.6 rpg)

Steals per game
17 - Zayon Marsh, Fr., Goldey-Beacom (2.50 spg)
17 - Lakeem McAiley, So., East Stroudsburg (2.50 spg)