City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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It’s time to finally put a bow on the 2022-23 Pennsylvania high school basketball season, at least as far as Southeast Pennsylvania is concerned, with the first-ever CoBL High School Postseason Awards.

For our inaugural high school basketball honors, we divided the area up into PIAA and non-PIAA categories, with boys’ and girls’ teams in each. We’ll start with PIAA boys, then PIAA girls, and then non-PIAA for each.

There is an absolute wealth of hoops talent in these five counties, and this was an incredibly difficult process. Anybody mentioned below, even the honorable mentions, all had fantastic seasons, and there are certainly countless more in the region who deserve to feel good about the years they had. But we had to pick the best of the best, and did our best in our attempt.

Without further ado, our All-Area Non-PIAA Girls awards for the 2022-23 season:

Non-PIAA Girls Player of the Year

Jordyn Palmer, 8th grade, Westtown
Palmer wasn’t eligible for the Pa. Sportswriters team due to being an eighth grader, but her talent at an early age distinguished itself even on a Westtown squad that was loaded with Division I talent. Palmer led her team in scoring (15 ppg) and rebounding (8.5 rpg) while also adding 3.0 apg and 3.0 spg to her statline for the Friends Schools League and PAISAA champions. Palmer was a first team All-Friends Schools League selection and was one of the standouts for the Moose in their contest at the nationally televised GEICO Nationals.

First Team

Kendall Bennett, Sr, Germantown Academy
The 6-3 forward headed to Binghamton next year was a two-way force on her way to first team All-Inter Ac honors. A consistent double-double threat, Bennett averaged 12.0 ppg and 8.0 rpg in addition to 1.5 bpg and 1.0 spg for the Patriots, who finished tied for second in the league and advanced to the PAISAA semifinals.

Logyn Greer, Soph., Friends’ Central
Greer was a first team All-Friends Schools League selection for FCS, which advanced to the FSL title game and the PAISAA semifinals. The 6-3 wing, who has multiple high-major offers averaged 15.2 ppg and 8.6 rpg in a breakout sophomore campaign.

Zahra King, Jr., Westtown
A 5-10 guard with high major offers, King averaged 13.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.8 apg and 1.5 spg, while shooting 52 percent from the field for the Moose. The first team All-Friends Schools League selection was one of the guiding forces for the PAISAA champions.

Aleah Snead, Sr., Penn Charter
The 5-foot-11 forward is a St. Joe’s commit and 1,000-point scorer. She averaged 16.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.6 apg, 3.1 spg to earn Inter-Ac MVP and first team all-league honors. Snead and the Quakers ran the table to an undefeated league mark and second straight Inter-Ac title as well as a PAISAA runner-up finish.

Grace Sundback, Sr., Westtown
Sundback is a 5-foot-8 guard headed to Delaware next season. One of the few holdovers from last season’s team, she was a leader for the PAISAA and FSL champs. The first team All-FSL selection averaged 13.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.8 apg and 1.5 spg and shot 40 percent from 3-point range. 

Second Team

Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick, Sr., Westtown
The 5-foot-11 Seton Hall commit averaged 7.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.0 apg and 1.0 spg after transferring from Connecticut to earn first team All-FSL honors and help Westtown roll to Friends League and PAISSA titles for second year in a row.

Savannah Curry, Jr., Westtown
Curry, a 5-10 wing/forward, averaged 9.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.2 apg and 1.3 spg, while shooting 50.3 percent from the field. She was one of five first team All-FSL selections for the Moose as they captured FSL and PAISAA championships.

Sanaa Garrett, Sr., Friends’ Central
Garrett, a 5-9 point guard and recent Jacksonville commit, was a first team All-Friends Schools League selection for FCS for the second straight season. She averaged 9.8 ppg, 7.0 apg and 4.6 apg to help her team to the FSL title game and the PAISAA semifinals. 

Lauren Patnode, Jr, Perkiomen School
Patnode helped an emerging Perkiomen program to a historic season, winning the first PAISAA playoff game in school history. The 6-foot guard/forward, who has a handful of Division I offers, averaged 17 ppg, 6 rpg and 3 apg. She had 33 points in the PAISAA win over ANC.

Priyanka Ponnam, Soph., George School
Ponnam earned first team All-FSL selection for the second straight season after averaging 12.0 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.5 spg and 1.1 bpg. The versatile 6-3 forward with multiple high-major offers helped the Cougars to the FSL semifinals and PAISAA quarters.

Bella Toomey, Sr, Penn Charter
Toomey, a 6-foot forward committed to Fairleigh Dickinson, averaged 10.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.5 spg and 1.8 bpg to earn first team All-Inter Ac honors as well as help the Quakers to an undefeated Inter-Ac championship and PAISAA runner-up finish.

Third Team

Nal’la Bennett, Soph., Friends’ Central
The 5-foot-6 guard was a second team All-Friends School League selection, averaging 13.2 ppg and 3.0 apg as her team advanced to the FSL title game and PAISAA semifinals. She’s got one Division I offer, from Delaware State, with others involved as well.

Kaylinn Bethea, Soph., Penn Charter
Bethea has multiple Division I offers, including a good chunk of the Ivy League. She averaged 9.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.7 apg and 2.8 spg and was a first team All-Inter Ac selection as her team went undefeated in the Inter-Ac for a second straight league title and made a run to the PAISAA championship game, finishing as runner-up.

Isabella Casey, Jr, Germantown Academy
Casey was one of two first team All-Inter Ac selections for GA, averaging 12.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.3 apg and 1.3 spg while shooting 53 percent from the floor as her team finished tied for second in the league and reached the PAISAA semifinals.

Katie Halligan, Sr., Notre Dame
One of two seniors on a young Notre Dame squad, Halligan averaged 9.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg and 1.7 spg. She earned first team All-Inter Ac honors and helped her teams tie for second in the league and reach the PAISAA quarters.

Gianna Johnson, Jr., George School
The 6-5 forward with Division I offers was another double-double threat and two-way factor, averaging 12.0 ppg, 8.2 rpg and 2.0 bpg. She earned first team All-FSL honors as the Cougars reached the league semifinals and PAISAA quarters.

Fourth Team

Ryan Carter, 8th, Penn Charter
The 5-11 guard had Division I offers before suiting up for the Quakers this past season. She averaged 10.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.7 apg and 2.1 spg, earning second team All-Inter-Ac honors for PC, which went undefeated in the league for a second straight title and advanced to the PAISAA title game for the second straight year.

Annie Greek, Sr., Notre Dame
Another one of ND’s senior leaders, the Susquehanna commit averaged 9.6 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.4 spg and 1.6 spg to help her team finish tied for second in the Inter-Ac and reach the PAISAA quarters.

Lizzie Halligan, Jr., Notre Dame
Halligan returned from injury to average 10.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.7 apg and 1.9 spg and earn first team All-Inter Ac honors for Notre Dame. The 5-10 wing helped her team tie for second in the league and reach the PAISAA quarters.

Sanai Johnson, Fr., Shipley
Johnson was the only non-Westtown/FCS/George player on the All-FSL teams, earning second team honors. She averaged 12.1 ppg, 2.3 apg, 3.5 rpg and 1.5 spg as Shipley reached the league semifinals and PAISAA quarters.

Jessie Moses, 8th, Westtown
Moses averaged 9 ppg, 3 apg, 3 apg and 2 spg to earn All-FSL League honorable mention honors. She was the sixth player for a squad that rolled its way to FSL and PAISAA honors and competed at GEICO Nationals.

Honorable Mention
Jess Aponik, Jr., Germantown Academy
Simone Harvey, 8th, Agnes Irwin
Gaeli Keffer-Scharpf, Sr., Episcopal Academy
Jaycee Merizalde, Soph., Perkiomen School
Kaiya Rain Tucker, Soph., Friends’ Central
Annabella Schafer, Sr., Hill School
Eden Singer, Sr., Barrack Hebrew Academy
Atlee Vanesko, Fr., Westtown
Xola Wade, Jr., Academy New Church