City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
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HORSHAM — For nearly 30 years, the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s Basketball League has offered an outlet for local college players - and a few alumni - to get in some competitive runs during their summer.

The current iteration of the league is underway with twice-weekly game nights at the Kelly Bolish Gym leading to a playoff wrapping up with the championship game on August 1. Six area Division II and III programs have entered their teams, with three teams featuring a mix of players from different squads rounding out the field. 

From incoming freshmen getting a first look at their new teams to some local legends still lacing up the sneakers for the fun of it, the league lives by its mantra that all players should be given the opportunity to hone their skills for the upcoming collegiate season, have fun and stay fit.

Here are a few notes from this week’s games:

Jefferson’s 2022-23 redshirts ready to play 

It’s the game within the game for Jefferson freshmen every year.

Rams coach Tom Shirley has long preferred to redshirt players their first year in his program and given Jefferson’s success year after year, it seems to usually pay off. Emily Spratt, Tori Nigro and Jordyn Thomas knew that’s what they were signing up for when they committed to Jefferson as high school seniors and while they know last year benefitted them, it wasn’t always an easy wait.

After a year of patience, the wait is over for the trio and they’re eager to get back on the court this coming season.

(L to R) Emily Spratt, Jordyn Thomas and Tori Nigro all redshirted their first season at Jefferson. (Photo: Andrew Robinson/CoBL)

“We all feel the same, we’re just waiting for that first moment back,” Nigro said. “The girls helped so much, just talking to them throughout the season because most of them redshirted so they give you the right point of view.”

The benefits of sitting out that first year really do add up and it goes well beyond the basketball court. As Spratt noted, it does give the Rams a pipeline of sorts at each position, the incumbent players having a chance to mentor their eventual replacement and creating an inherent line of succession.

It also eases the transition from life as a high school student to a college student. The first year players are able to get used to living on campus, settle into a routine with classes and get the feel of being a college athlete without stressing about production or minutes.

“We got so used just to being in college itself,” Spratt said. “That’s enough pressure as it is, so it took off that pressure of basketball and school at the same time and made it more enjoyable. It’s also making this year more exciting and less nerve-wracking.”

The extra year has plenty of benefits once their playing eligibility runs out too. Plenty of student-athletes in Jefferson’s women’s basketball program have left not only with an undergrad degree, but multiple degrees or a Master’s from a highly-regarded university.

“None of us would change it,” Thomas said. “We learned a lot, we were able to understand the program and I think we all know what we’ll be expected to do this coming year.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better team to come into. They’re really welcoming, all really helpful and they’re excited for us playing with them the next couple years.”

Nigro, a crafty left-handed point guard who played her senior year at Villa Maria Academy after St. Basil Academy closed following her junior year, said she knew exactly what she was getting into once Jefferson started recruiting her. If she hadn’t redshirted, Nigro knew she probably would have ended up not playing a whole lot anyway with a lot of good players ahead of her.

Even though the trio started almost every high school game they played for four years and were used to playing almost year-round with their AAU schedules factored in, redshirting didn’t mean they weren’t around the game. They were still at practice every day, they were active participants on game nights from the bench and they were there getting a little better every day.

“We’re still bettering the team by redshirting,” Spratt said. “It would have been selfish for any of us to say ‘I don’t care, I want to play and not redshirt.’ I think it betters the team itself by embracing it.”

It was just a midweek night in early June and night a mid-January doubleheader in the CACC, but Spratt joked she almost forgot what it was like to be on the foul line with all eyes on her as she waited to shoot. She, Nigro and Thomas admitted there were times, especially in a close game, where they felt the desire to be on the court trying to help.

The summer league is giving them a fix for now, and the last time any of them were in a competitive game with officials was this time last year. 

“I think Coach Shirley always puts this out there, but you just have to be patient,” Nigro said. “You know this is going to benefit you in your future, so you just trust that.”

Spratt, who won a District I title as a sophomore at CB West, noted that Jefferson standout Haley Meinel - a CB South grad - redshirted her first year on campus. All Meinel did last season was take home CACC Defensive Player of the Year and overall CACC Player of the Year, and Spratt saw the benefit of being able to sit behind and learn from her.

As a senior at Plymouth Whitemarsh, Thomas helped the Colonials to an undefeated season with SOL, District I and PIAA titles. The 6-foot-1 forward was able to come into Jefferson, spend a year going up against the Rams’ post players and picking up some things that will help her contribute this coming season.

“It’s to be able to make the transition and come into a program that’s really solid,” Thomas said. “You come in and you’re surrounded by solid players who want to help you and see you get to that next level just like they did.”

This summer, Jefferson has some of its next group of incoming recruits playing in the league before going dark for the year as they take their turn redshirting. Spratt joked they were already pre-prepping the recruits when they visited campus, but they’ll see the benefits on their own soon enough.

“The redshirt year definitely set us up to be better athletes, but also to be better when it comes to being there for school as well,” Spratt said.

~~~

Taylor Hinkle (Soph. | Holy Family)

There’s one number that is most telling about the impact Taylor Hinkle had in her freshman season.

The CB South grad ranked pretty highly in a lot of statistics for Holy Family in her first season with the Tigers, finishing fifth in scoring and rebounding per game for the CACC semifinalists. What stands out is that despite playing in all 30 games and finding a way to make a mark in all of them, Hinkle did so without once being announced as a starter.

Hinkle embraced the super-sub role and it paid off for her and for Holy Family.

“I felt like I was ready for it and I knew what I had to do, which was to bring my best for my team,” Hinkle said after Tuesday’s win that ran Holy Family to 6-1 in the league. “Coming off the bench, I normally subbed in halfway through the first quarter, so I already knew what players did what, what we were going to be running that game, who the strong players were on the other team and went I went in, I was locked in.”

One of just five players to surpass 1,000 points for CB South girls’ basketball, Hinkle did a whole lot of things for the Titans that included scoring plenty as an upperclassman. While that was her role for her high school team, her role with her AAU wasn’t too dissimilar from what she did for Holy Family last winter.

Playing for the Comets, Hinkle was one of eight players on the roster currently playing at the Division I or II level including her now-teammate at Holy Family, point guard Skyler Searfoss. Searfoss, a standout at Jim Thorpe, had a highly successful debut year in college by being named the CACC Rookie of the Year and leading the Tigers in scoring.

The Tigers had a need for the 5-foot-10 Hinkle, who played mainly guard or on the wing before college, in the frontcourt behind two established starters in Caroyln Prevost and Ava Morrow, both of them 30-game starters last season. Splitting time between the three, the four and even the five, Hinkle took to her role and was ready to go whenever coach Bernadette Laukaitis called her up off the bench.

“I didn’t know what position I was going to play, coming out of high school, I kind of did it all. I got put as a forward, so I just wanted to do as much as I could,” Hinkle said. “I wanted to bring a lot of energy. I pride myself on rebounding, so if things don’t go well on the offensive end, I can always make it up with rebounding.

“It was really the people ahead of me who made me a better player.”

Hinkle’s best scoring game of the season came with a 21-point effort in an 88-65 win over Goldey-Beacom in early December. A week later, she was named the CACC Rookie of the Week and she had at least one rebound in all 30 games during the season.

Offensively, Hinkle noted she went into a scoring slump late in the season and a focus for her this offseason has been solidifying her post game. She’s been playing well throughout the summer league, especially grabbing offensive boards, with her trademark intensity.

“I feel like I’m always locked in, some people say I’m too serious, I kind of don’t smile that much on the court,” Hinkle said. “But I definitely have fun with it, even if you don’t think I am.”

Hinkle’s certainly been having fun in the summer league, as have her teammates, with HFU sitting in second place and looking like a contender to win the playoff tournament starting next week. The Tigers have posted some highlight passes, Hinkle saying they’re probably being too unselfish if anything, and the players on the bench have done a lot of celebrating on makes.

Hinkle finished her freshman year with averages of 7.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game in 17.8 minutes, around five minutes - or half the length of a college quarter - fewer than anyone who finished higher than her in either category. Of course, she wants to compete for a starting spot this coming season but if her best fit is again as a super-sub, that’s not a bad thing either.

“I’m going in, working as hard as I can and if she says to play that role again, I’m down for it,” Hinkle said. “It’s just more motivation.”

~~~

Shannon Remolde (RS So | Kutztown)

After two years removed from the game, Shannon Remolde made up for lost time.

The St. Basil Academy graduate missed her senior season in 2020-21 after tearing an ACL the first week of practice, then added another season on the sideline by redshirting her first year at Kutztown. She wouldn’t have been ready then, but by midseason this last winter, it had all started to come back.

Having knocked off the proverbial rust last season, Remolde is ready to give the Golden Bears more as they look to rebound from a 2022-23 season that didn’t go as they’d hoped.

“It felt amazing. I was nervous at first, of course, but my teammates around me just helped me,” Remolde said. “I was fully ready in January (of 2022) but it was kind of pointless to go back to play that season and that year helped me prepare for what to expect.”

Remolde ended up playing 25 games in last season’s 15-15 campaign, making starts in nine of them. A highlight came on January 28 in a lopsided win over Shepherd where Shannon not only made her first ever start in college, she got to do alongside her older sister Casey.

Casey Remolde had a two-year head start on her sister at Kutztown, but they’d planned on playing two seasons together in college, just as they’d done at St. Basil. Even with Shannon missing a season due to injury, the sisters will be back together this year with Casey eligible for a fifth season with the PSAC not playing in the 2020-21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It was awesome,” Shannon said of their first start together since 2019. “It was so cool, my parents were so excited.

“She said don’t overthink it, just go out and have fun and you’ll do the best you can.”

The Remoldes won a lot at St. Basil. Casey and Shannon, along with their older sister Cheryl, helped the Panthers to AACA and District I titles in 2018 when Cheryl was a senior, Casey a junior and Shannon just a freshman. A year prior it had been Cheryl, who attended Pitt, and Casey starting what became a five-year run of titles for the Remolde sisters before Shannon came into the Panthers program.

Casey and Shannon repeated the feat the next year, Shannon did so again in her junior year and even unable to play as a senior, was a team captain as St. Basil won one last AACA and District championship before the school closed at the end of the 20-21 school year.

“It came back right away, of course,” Shannon said of joining forces with her sister again. “Everyone around us gave the same amount of energy, just as our teammates did when we were playing high school basketball.”

Remolde averaged just 2.2 points per game and 1.1 rebounds per outing, but she did hit on 31 percent of her three-point shots. Where she was most effective was on the defensive end, racking up 32 steals - a 1.28 per game average - which was good for third most on the team and doing so in just 319 minutes.

She had games of six, seven and six steals again within Kutztown’s last five games while starting the final seven contests of the season.

“I think it definitely took some time, it wasn’t until about halfway through the season where I started to get confident in my defense,” Remolde said. “I started getting used to how these players play as opposed to high school basketball.

“It was a big change from high school, I did not expect it to be like that at all.”

Remolde said she’s trying to work on her driving, getting to the basket and being a little more explosive this offseason, all trademarks of her playing style prior to the injury. The redshirt year also meant the 5-foot-10 guard wouldn’t have to wear a cumbersome brace on the court, something she was very excited to get rid of during the second year sitting out.

She’s hopeful that a year of having her game legs back will lead her to add a little more punch to a Kutztown offense that had a collective down season in 22-23. The Bears will also have a bit of a different look this coming season, with a stronger and more confident Remolde a definite part of it.

“I felt a lot more comfortable playing at that speed,” Remolde said. “We’ll see when everyone gets back up there, but I think we’re going to be good.”