City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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MANHEIM — The first day of the April live period AAU opened up on Friday, with a massive tournament taking place at Spooky Nook Sports — a combination of the first Girls’ Under Armour Association stop and the Select Events “Live at the Nook!” competition, with hundreds and hundreds of teams descending upon central Pennsylvania for three days of intense competition.

Here’s a notebook from Friday and Saturday's action:

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More Coverage: Day 1 Standouts | Day 2 Standouts | Day 3 Standouts | Notebook (Pt. 1) | Notebook (Pt. 2) | Notebook (Pt. 3) | Notebook (Pt. 4) | Notebook (Pt. 5) | Notebook (Pt. 6)

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Mia Fiore (2024 | Lady Rivals 3SSB 17U)

Few people can understand the value of making the most of every minute on a basketball court better than Mia Fiore.

There’s a certain fury the Lady Rivals 3SSB wing plays with, the Narragansett, Rhode Island native attacking every ball like it belongs solely to her. When someone loses the better part of two years doing something they love, like Fiore has, taking it slow doesn’t really factor into the equation.

Back-to-back ACL tears of her right knee robbed Fiore of two high school seasons and two summers, so there's a reason why she treats each minute on the court with so much value.

“I haven’t played AAU since I was 15, this is a chance to get back out there,” Fiore said. “I’m just glad I’m able to play and move around.”

After the first ACL tear ended Fiore’s sophomore season at St. Andrew’s School in Rhode Island and also cost her that following summer, the 5-foot-10 guard was rigorous in her rehab, going through the full nine-month buildback. While it was frustrating to not be able to play, even when the big leg brace came off and she could start walking easier, Fiore tried to take the positive of it.

By watching, she’d gained a better understanding of the game and it would pay off when she opted to transfer to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida for her junior season.

That lasted all of a few minutes.

“Two minutes into my first game back, I turned and I felt it snap,” Fiore said.

Basketball runs in Fiore’s family. Her dad, brother and sister all played or currently play college basketball, so it was only natural that Mia followed them onto the court.

She was good at it, just like them, even earning an offer from the University of New Hampshire and already drawing other interest in 2020 before the injuries took that away. 

Having gone through it all — from the surgery to the immobilization, the rehab and strengthening — it definitely felt unfair to have it all come undone so quickly. While the sport was something she’d grown up in love with, she did think about if it was all worth doing again.

“I was heartbroken when it happened again, because it happened so fast,” Fiore said. “ACLs are non-contact typically, it’s not like I hit anyone else or fell, so I was blaming myself a lot.

“I went for it, this time I waited a full year and I saw the light at the end of the tunnel so I told myself, ‘I need to get there, I need to get back and play.’”

Even taking the extra time off, which meant losing out on a second summer as well, Fiore was still apprehensive finally getting back on the floor. Naturally, she was a little overcome when that first game ended with her having gotten through it.

“I totally broke down in tears,” Fiore said. “I was so glad to be playing. I never took a sprint for granted, never took a practice for granted. Even if it was a coach yelling, ‘Get on the line!’ I was like, ‘I’m back playing, I don’t care.’”

There’s no way to make up for lost time, but there was a way to get a little more of it. After her second injury she reclassified from the 2023 class to 2024, so she’ll have this summer and one more year of basketball at St. George’s School, a prep school in Rhode Island where she played this past season and earned all-league honors in the NEPSAC.

Fiore knows the value of time on a basketball court, so she can’t do anything but make the most out of every second she gets there going forward.

“It’s my first live period back, so I’m hoping to get as many eyes on me as possible,” Fiore said. “I want to show a good attitude. I love my teammates, I think it’s very important to make the right pass, I’d rather be the one making good passes.” — Andrew Robinson

Evalyse Cole & Talia Zurinskas (2024 | Penn Fever 17U)

Penn Fever’s 17U squad drew a large crowd of coaches for its game against FBC United the Family on Friday afternoon.

The group consists of some of the top talent in District 11 in Talia Zurinskas (Parkland), Madison Siggins (Parkland), Molly Driscoll (Allentown CC), Evalyse Cole (Easton), Maddison Maynard (Panther Valley) and Cici Hernandez (Bethlehem Catholic) along with Souderton’s Brooke Fenchel and Bloomsburg’s Brynna Zentner.

“We all play each other in high school, so it’s fun to all play together on the same AAU team,” Zurinskas said.

Driscoll, Zurinskas, Siggins and Cole have been playing together since seventh grade during travel hoops season, while going up against each other in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference during school ball.

“It’s definitely a lot of fun playing against each other on the court,” Cole said. “We might not always go against each other, but there’s moments on the court where we guard each other, which are fun.”

“There’s definitely a little smack talk here and there,” she added.

Cole is a 6-1 stretch forward who helped Easton to a 26-2 mark this past season. She handled the ball a lot for her high school team but has the ability to score down low and pop out for catch-and-shoot threes as well.

She has offers from Army, Navy, Lafayette, Colgate and Monmouth, which she picked up throughout last summer and fall. 

She said some other schools in the Patriot League and CAA have also reached out. She’s trying to make a decision before the end of this AAU season.

“I think they like the versatility I have on the court, being able to post up and push the ball when it’s needed,” Cole said. 

Zurinskas is a D1 target as well. She has an offer from Army and also had an offer from Fairleigh Dickinson before head coach Angelika Szumilo left for Iona last week. (Former Fordham coach Stephanie Gaitley was announced as FDU’s new head coach Friday)

“I think I’m coachable. I’m a good listener and I feel like I shoot the ball relatively well, and I have good point guard skills,” said Zurinskas, who impressed during a 13-point outing.

The Fever have plenty more college-bound talent ready to showcase themselves in front of coaches over the next few months. Driscoll and Maynard were two others who impressed during Friday’s action, both showing off their range.

The tight-knit group, which has a chemistry that shows on both ends of the court, also hopes to have some fun as well as they finish off their time with the Fever together

“I’m most looking forward to making new memories with my teammates,” Cole said. — Owen McCue

Lottia Barnes (2025 | Rockland Raiders 16U)

Lottia Barnes doesn’t play like someone just starting to get their game legs back under them.

Yet that’s exactly where the Rockland Raiders 16U point guard, the 2025 playing up a year, finds herself at the moment. Barnes, who hails from Suffern, New York, didn’t even get through a full game for her high school team this past season.

A torn PCL now fully recovered, Barnes is getting back to the business of showing everyone she’s getting back to the player she was and maybe more.

“I’m a little out of shape, we’ll fix that eventually but I feel like I’m getting back into what I was doing before,” Barnes said. “I’m working as much as I can to get back to where I was and trying to get a little bit better.”

Barnes was really solid Saturday in her team’s win over the Hunting Park Warriors 16U team, scoring a bit, rebounding a bit, passing a good bit and showing a lot of life on the court. The sophomore said she’s not quite back in shape the way she wants to be, but there’s enough there to make do for now.

Again, it would have been hard to tell without her saying so. She showed off a tight handle to weave down the lane for her first score Saturday, finishing with eight points that also included a nice reverse layup in the second half.

It was her passing however that really stood out. She doled five assists, a few of them going to Suffern classmate Adrianna McMillian for three of her five made threes, and was unlucky not to have a few more helpers as she threw all manner of passes up, down and around the floor.

“When I was younger and first started, I started with passing mostly and the more and more I got used to passing, the more I depended on it,” Barnes said. “My coaches have been really helpful at practice, getting me starting the ball at the top and making sure I see who’s down low or playing off my teammates.”

Barnes’ injury happened in the very first game of this past season, so she was understandably frustrated to lose out on the whole year coming back from the injury. In a way, getting back for the start of AAU season is a benefit, as it’s a little more loose and puts the point guard in settings where she could play a little more freely.

“In high school, you’re so locked in and focused on keeping your record strong,” Barnes said. “Coming into this season, I kind of wanted to play basketball for fun.”

Putting together a solid summer will also be a step toward getting the competitive Barnes on her way to her goal of playing in college. She’s definitely an energizer, talking all throughout the game against Hunting Park and getting fired up when her teammates converted a couple pivotal scores late in the game.

“It’s most of my game, if I’m having a bad shooting game, then I’m pushing harder with hustling,” Barnes said. “Even when I’m tired, I have to lead my team as a point guard.” — Andrew Robinson

Isabela Grant (2025 | NY Gauchos 16U)
The NY Gauchos are a storied AAU program with a tradition of developing a pipeline of talent. After winning their first three games by an average margin of 40 points, it’s apparent the Gauchos pipeline is still very active. A big reason why is the play of Isabela Grant. 

IG, as she is known to her teammates, is hard to miss on the court. The 6-2 forward is a physical and vocal presence oozing with positivity and passion who controlled the paint and the glass at both ends of the floor against a smaller NEPA Elite 2024 team. Grant also showed nice touch on the perimeter as she stepped outside the paint and hit a three in the second half. 

She looks to the likes of recent WNBA No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston and NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo for inspiration and aspiration as she tries to take her game to another level.

“I like how Aliyah Boston plays because she works inside out,” said the rising junior. “She always starts from the block and then when she gets her engine going and her vibe then she brings it out to three-point line.”

As she looks to her junior season at South Shore HS (N.Y.), Grant is looking to expand her game even more by adding a driving element to it. 

“I want to get better going downhill because I’m good on the block, but getting from the 3-point line to the rim, I’m not the best at it yet,” she said.

The multi-faceted power forward doesn’t have a specific school on her target list, but is open and looking for a school that is a good fit for her skill set. — Matt Gaffney

Isabella Wesley (2025 | NY Gauchos 16U)

Though they share the same first name, Isabella Wesley has a game that is much different from her AAU teammate, Isabela Grant.

Wesley is a versatile, tough, hard-nosed 5-10 wing who also plays point for her high school team (the Dalton School in NYC). In short, she is an old school team-first player who does what is needed to win. 

Wesley has D1 aspirations after playing alongside 2023 Purdue commit Mary Ashley Groot at the Dalton School. Between playing with her former teammate and following the career of her basketball hero, Gabby Williams of the Seattle Storm, Wesley recognizes winning basketball when she sees it.  

“Gabby Williams is one of my inspirations because, for me, I'm not a person or player who fits into like one specific position,” Wesley said. “She’s just a team player all around and that's what I want to emulate because I know basketball is a team sport so getting everybody involved like she does during the game can make a really big impact.”

In addition to sharpening her basketball skills, Wesley is looking to take on a bigger leadership role when she returns to her high school team, now that Groot is off to Purdue.

“She (Groot) was a really big leader on our team but she’s leaving, so I know I have to step into a role for my team as a point guard and be the one who's helping everybody, picking everybody up, telling everybody what to do on the floor,” Wesley said. — Matt Gaffney

Jenna Hillebrand (2025 | NEPA Elite HGSL 16U)

As a sophomore reserve on Scranton Prep’s team that just made a PIAA Class 4A Final Four run, Jenna Hillebrand, a 5-9 guard/wing, was the kind of luxury most teams wish they had on their bench. 

Her length and tenacity make her a tough opponent on both ends of the court with the ability to finish at the rim as well as step outside and shoot the three ball.

As she looks ahead to her junior year, she wants to become more of a force on the glass.

“I definitely want to get more rebounds on offense and on defense, just boxing my girl out and getting the easy rebound are my main things,” Hillebrand said.

She will be a player to keep an eye on next winter as she continues to evolve her game and step into a larger role for a Prep program that is an annual PIAA contender. — Matt Gaffney

Sophia Talutto (2025 | NEPA Elite HGSL 16U)

Inch for inch you won’t find many guards tougher than Sophia Talutta. Fresh off a PIAA 3A Championship with Dunmore, the 5-6 rising junior is hungry for more success. She played a key role this past season and will be counted on for an even larger role as she and her team look to defend their title without UNC commit Ciera Toomey.

But first things first. Talutta is hungry to get better and is embracing every opportunity that comes her way.

“AAU is a great place to be when you're trying to improve your skills, so I'm just trying to become the best that I can be during the offseason,” the combo guard said.  “AAU is played at a very good pace for me, so this helps you so much for the high school season. I’m also looking to improve my three-point shot and handling pressure.” — Matt Gaffney