City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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There was no extended postgame celebration, no Wilt-like photo for the milestone accomplishment. The 53-point outing Senaya Parker put up in a win over Simon Gratz last week seemed rather routine to both Parker and her teammates.

For her, it kind of was.

Parker, a sophomore in her first season at Fels, is leading the country in scoring at 43.8 ppg, according to MaxPreps, and has six 50-point outings in 14 games. The 53 was the third in her last three games entering the Public League playoffs. 

There's no publicized record of scoring leaders on the PPL's girls side, but only two players have ever averaged more than 40 on the boys side, according to Ted Silary: Overbrook's legendary Wilt Chamberlain (47.2 ppg) in 1955 and Southern's Kareem Townes (41.2 ppg) in 1992.

They’re numbers that don’t seem fathomable, but the 5-foot-6 guard continues to light up the scoreboard from game to game.

“It’s not necessarily crazy,” Parker said. “I get that nobody else is really doing it, but it’s coming a little naturally to me a little bit.”

Parker came off the bench last season for Public League champion Imhotep, averaging 2.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.3 apg and 1.4 spg in what she called a ‘sixth man’ role. She’s gone to charter schools throughout her life, but the West Philly native who moved to the Northeast when she got to high school transferred to Fels this offseason.

Despite one of his sons playing football with Parker’s older brother growing up, Panthers’ girls basketball coach and athletic director Malvin Carrion didn’t know anything about her game until she showed up this fall. 

When he watched her shooting in the gym with her father Stanley, he knew his team, which went winless last season, was about to get a significant boost.

“You could just see the mechanisms of her shooting mechanics whether it was a standstill or jump shot or her driving to the hole,” Carrion said. “‘That’s when I kind of said, ‘Ooh there’s something here.’ Then when we had our first scrimmage, it confirmed everything. She’s just so much better than the other competition at our division and even like yesterday Gratz and many of the other teams when they’re 1, 2, 3 divisions above us in the Philadelphia Public League. She’s so much better than most of those players.”

Fels finished 0-7 in 2021-22 and averaged a little more than 11 points per game, not scoring more than 17 in any game. Individually, Parker has scored more than 17 in every game this season. She’s gone over 40 points in nine of her team’s 14 games and gone over 30 in three others. The two exceptions when she scored 18 in a loss to Mastery North and 26 in a loss to Frankford. 

The Panthers enter the PPL playoffs with an 11-3 regular-season mark and a 6-0 record in the Public League’s Colonial North Division — one of the lower levels on the girls side.

“This year, we’re actually scoring, we’re in games and we’re winning,” Carrion said. “It’s great to see for those kids who went through that hard, hard season being rewarded with having a teammate of the caliber of Parker.”

Parker had some big outings this summer with the Hunting Park Warriors, playing with a number of younger players. 

Carrion had a few returners back this season in juniors Guerla Saint-Vrestil and Laysha Aragones and sophomores Natalie Ramos, Johnae Riley and Heaven Sowell, but their roles have mostly been setting picks and playing defense throughout their careers. The rest of the rotation outside of Parker are freshmen or first-year players who haven’t played organized basketball before. 

Very early on, it was apparent she was going to have to shoot A LOT if they wanted a chance to compete. She scored 35 of her team’s 39 points in a win over Mastery South in the season opener. The Panthers’ game plan has been to let her fire away ever since.

“The first game of the season, that was the game where I kind of adjusted and figured out what my role needed to be,” Parker said. "He was like, ‘I need you to step up a little bit,’ and from that point on I did what I needed to do.”

Parker followed with 48 in a loss to Penn Treaty in her second game at Fels and has been flirting with 50 in most contests this season. There was 46 in a win over Mariana Bracetti, 41 in a win over Swenson Arts & Tech and her first 50-piece in a Dec. 22 win over Kensington. 

Parker scored 50 again in a Jan. 7 victory over Paul Robeson then followed with a season-high 59 points in a victory over Hill Freedman two days later. She has three 50-point outings in her last three games — 56 in a win over Randolph Vo-Tech, 57 in a win over Mast II and 54 against Gratz. She’s the first Fels girls player to score more than 600 points in one season.

“I’m all about confidence,” said Parker, who is also averaging 6.6 steals per game. “I was a freshman last year, and I would say I didn’t have this confidence. Now, my confidence grew. As a better person, I’m coming out here and I feel unstoppable. I’ve got that mentality that nobody can guard me, and it shows on the court.”

Parker attacks the basket at will, often maneuvering her way around two or three defenders before finding some space to get into the lane. She’s certainly had some extra attention on her since the start of the season.

She can pull-up from deep, knocking down 25 threes this season, is a pest on defense and plays with emotion, often yelling out “and-one” after finishing through contact near the basket.

“She’s an excellent player,” Simon Gratz coach David Isaac said. “She’s tenacious. She’s aggressive. She goes to the basket strong, and she’s not scared of contact."

Parker's older brother Stanley and twin brother Shamar, who played at Sankofa Freedom last season, have helped provide a similar turnaround for the Fels boys, who are 20-2 and a No. 2 seed entering the Public League Playoffs. 

Stanley leads the Fels boys team in scoring averaging 17.8 ppg, with a season-high of 34 — which would likely make him the scoring leader in most households. Shemar averages double figures as well.

They were in attendance for her first 50-point outing against Kensington, which was special for Parker considering how much her brothers helped shape her as a player growing up.

“I grew up around all boys, so when I watched them — I’m a very competitive person by the way — when I watched them it was like, ‘I want to do what they do, or even be any better,’” Parker said. “Growing up around that environment, it made me tougher, it made me better and it made me evolve into the competitive person I am right now.”

The euros in the lane, finishing through traffic, fearlessness to take on whoever is in front of her … those traits can be traced back to playing with her brothers.

“All those moves basically develop out of my aggressiveness,” Parker said. “I just learned to have that heart, not be scared to attack, not be scared to go in the hole and bump it up with anybody.”

Freshman Lailah Fortson (4.8 ppg), Ramos (3.5 ppg) and sophomore Seymya Snipe (3.2 ppg) are the Panthers’ next top scorers after Parker. Sometimes even Parker’s teammates can get lost watching her light up the scoreboard, but she’s doing her best to try and elevate their games.

“She’s coming along, she’s willing to get her teammates involved,” Carrion said. “She understands that her talent level is way above her teammates, but she’s still willing to try and get her teammates involved, try to improve her teammates.”’

There hasn’t been any animosity about Parker’s green light.

“Once they saw what she was and who she is and the talent level she has, they were supportive,” Carrion said. 

“They have learned that I’m going to carry them throughout the way,” Parker said, “and they look up to me, which I actually really appreciate because throughout that journey with me being with them, they’re learning from me and they’re looking up to me.”

Carrion said colleges have taken notice of his star sophomore. He’s seen some in the stands or had coaches ask when his team’s next game is. Parker noted it’s been mostly Division III college interest thus far.

Her coach sees a path to her becoming a Division I player. He noted her tightening her handles and getting off her shot quicker. Parker, who has 25 threes this season, mentioned she’s also working on her shot. 

“As I’m developing into a better basketball player and developing into a better person, I’m just learning throughout the whole thing, getting to be a way better person on and off the court,” Parker said.

Fels is one of the four No. 5 seeds in the PPL playoffs, hosting the play-in winner in the first round on Wednesday. A win would send the Panthers to the second round against No. 4 Tacony Charter on Friday. 

“I don’t really expect us to go there bombing teams because I know we’re not the best team out, but I expect us to hold our own,” Parker said. “These past three games we’ve actually been competing and playing some better defense and I’ve been proud of them. With me being proud of them, coach being proud and us having those team talks, they’re getting their confidence up and I think we can really make a statement.”