City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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ATLANTIC CITY — The 2023 grassroots season has come to an end, the girls’ edition of the Hoop Group Showcase League closing out its action with this weekend’s championships at the AC Convention Center. The four-day event went from Friday through Monday, starting with showcase games and pool play and then moving into bracket play as the tournament progressed.

Here’s the third part of our recruiting notebook from the four days of the event:

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More HGSL Championship Coverage: Day 1 Standouts | Day 2 + 3 Standouts, Pt. 1 | Day 2 + 3 Standouts, Pt. 2 | Day 4 Standouts | Championship Notebook | Recruiting Notebook Pt. 1 | Recruiting Notebook Pt. 2 | Recruiting Notebook Pt. 3

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Janelle Blokker (2026 | Total Skills Select 15U)

To say Janelle Blokker has been busy this summer would be severely underselling it.

A two-sport athlete at CB West, Blokker has carried that double duty into the summer while sharing time between her Total Skills Select team on the hardwood and her PDA Blue club soccer team on the pitch.

Blokker knows she’ll eventually have to decide which sport she wants to pursue at the next level but for now, she wants to have as much fun as she can playing both.

“It’s crazy just going back and forth, I definitely have to manage my time a lot,” Blokker said on Saturday. “At the beginning of the summer, it was all soccer, just like training every day, traveling for tournaments and going to nationals. Now this last part of the summer, I’ve been here playing with my team.”

That team was made up of a mix of players from the three Central Bucks schools — East, West and South — programs well known for their competitive rivalries in every sport from late August to June. Blokker laughed when this was pointed out but said the group did in fact get along quite well and they’re all looking forward to their meetings against each other in the SOL.

Blokker got thrown right into the fire last fall as the newbie on an otherwise veteran back line for the Bucks defense. She didn’t sink, playing mostly as an outside back as West went on a wild postseason ride that included appearances in the District I semifinals and PIAA quarterfinals.

Considering the SOL Colonial conference the Bucks play in produced a district finalist in CB East and a state runner-up in Pennridge, it was a challenge right out of the gates.

“The physicality helped me become a better player,” Blokker said. “Playing so many tough players and so many D-I players, it made me realize just how much I had to step up my game.”

It’ll be pretty different this fall, with the Bucks graduating quite a few pillars and a new coach taking over the program. Blokker, who can play outside or centrally on the back line or in front of it as a defensive midfielder, figures to again have a key role as West alum Bree Benedict takes over the soccer program following a successful run at Lansdale Catholic.

“She’s more of a possession style and I think that’s going to help our team a lot,” Blokker said.

In the winter, Blokker found a role in the rotation for Zach Sibel’s team as well. A relatively young Bucks squad missed out on the postseason but that didn’t deter Blokker away and if anything, has only intensified her desire to improve on the hardwood.

“He’s been helping me a lot, by the end of the school year, I was getting in sessions where he was helping me with my shot, really everything,” Blokker said. “Next year we’re hoping it is a big year, we have a young class but we’re all hoping to step up.

“That’s so much motivation for us, we want to fight and get there.”

She’s been in the gym a lot this summer, between soccer sessions of course, not wanting to fall off even in the midst of a busy June. 

“I’m making sure I just work on the little details,” Blokker said. “If I have a week off without a tournament, I still put in the work, I know if I don’t, then I’m not going to get anywhere.”

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Avery Kocur & Halie Staub (2026 | PA Royals 15U)

Avery Kocur & Halie Staub (2026 | PA Royals 15U)

When the Suburban One League released its all-league teams in March, something quite notable had happened for William Tennent.

The Panthers haven’t been much of a factor in division titles or the postseason in recent years, but the Freedom Division’s All-SOL teams included not one, but two first-year Tennent players. With their starting backcourt already worthy of all-league consideration, they just stayed together this summer to keep building on that promising start.

Avery Kocur and Halie Staub know the history but if their first year was an indication, they could have a strong say in turning that around.

“Tennent’s not really known for basketball so being all-league players is a pretty big accomplishment,” Kocur said on Saturday. “Especially doing it as freshman, for the next three years we want to try to build off that and hopefully the team gets a little more known.”

Kocur, a 5-foot-9 point guard, was a first team All-SOL Freedom selection despite Tennent finishing 9-13 overall and 6-10 across SOL competition.

Staub, a 5-foot-5 shooting guard, finished as an honorable mention All-SOL selection in the Freedom division. They’re not the only returning All-SOL players on the roster either, as rising senior forward Morgan Volz was a second team selection.

“Starting on varsity and getting as much playing time as we did gave us more opportunities,” Staub said. “It’s something that makes us work harder.”

Tennent coach Laura Whitney has held the post since the 2016-17 season and always has a hard-working team under her. A 2001 Archbishop Wood graduate who went on to play at Marist, Whitney gave her young backcourt plenty of leash this season, letting the two first-year guards play through mistakes and read the game.

“Our coaches gave us a lot of free range even when we were running certain plays,” Kocur said. “I did not start the season out great and my coach had a one-on-one talk with me about my confidence, how I should play and how I’d been playing and that really boosted me.”

Kocur pointed out the league crossover games against the Liberty division, including Plymouth Whitemarsh, Abington and Upper Dublin, showed the value of playing as a team against top competition. 

This summer, the duo stayed together playing for the Royals along with another Tennent teammate, Hailey Lorenzon. All told, they had a pretty solid season for coach Ray Horn, winning several bracket championships and continuing to build on the start they’d had last winter. They finished with a semifinal trip to the 15U Gold bracket in Atlantic City.

“I feel like we have a good read for each other during games,” Kocur said. “I know where she’s going all the time.”

“She just sees me better than anyone,” Staub said. “I feel like there were times, if someone else would be bringing the ball up and I’d be wide open, they wouldn’t see me because their eyes were somewhere else as part of the play.

“Avery just always knows where I am.”

Kocur’s goal for her sophomore season at Tennent is to have the team finish with a plus-.500 record and to also contend in the Freedom division. With just one senior departing from last season’s team, the two guards felt confident they were in a good position.

Part of the reason is what they tried to do behind the scenes last season. Early on, they felt the Panthers just weren’t getting along well as a team and the group did rally to come together toward the end of the year.

“We started to communicate more on the court,” Staub said. “That started to make it easier to play as a team and the way we wanted to.”

“We’ve really just tried to keep connecting,” Kocur said. “I think next year could bring a big change.”

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Allie Esposito (2027 | Penn Fever 15U)

Allie Esposito is still getting to know her future teammates at Lansdale Catholic, but she knows she’s stepping into a good environment.

The 5-foot-11 post, who lives in Harleysville, didn’t get to see much of the Crusaders’ playoff run last winter due to her own schedule. But having the opportunity to get into some open gyms with LC between travel tournaments, she’s got an idea of what the program is all about.

“They play well together, they’re excited on the bench, just a good team,” Esposito said after helping her Penn Fever team top NE Storm on Saturday. “I have a camp coming up with them in two weeks. I think it’ll be a good fit.”

Right now, Esposito is more of a factor on defense and as a passer but she is also playing up a year with Penn Fever’s 2026 team. In the win over the NE Storm, the forward scored her only basket on a putback although her passing on four assists led to nine direct points.

“My offensive game, playing with an older team, it’s harder but I also think it’s helping me get better,” Esposito said. “A lot of them are bigger and they just know more about basketball.”

She hit two cutters for assists, made an extra pass to get an open shooter a three and on what was probably her best play of the game, started a drive along the baseline and then dropped a pass to Olivia Serfass for a short jumper when the defense collapsed on her.

“It’s always how I was growing up,” Esposito said. “That’s always what I focused on, passing is better than being selfish. I’d rather pass the ball, especially if there’s a girl on me, I want to find the open player.”

Esposito doesn’t know what role she’ll fill for Lansdale Catholic, but she knows just being around the team’s returners who led the way to a PCL and state title last year will help her.

“Playing older and bigger girls, you have to step up your game if you want to beat them,” Esposito said. “Right now, any mistake just shows you what to do next time and what you can fix.”

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Dani Brusha (2025 | Penn Fever 16U)

If not for the sleeve and brace on her left knee, it would have been hard to tell Dani Brusha had missed most of the last year.

The 5-foot-3 guard, a high-energy player known as a pesky defender and outside shooter, always knew her knee was going to betray her at some point. Still, that didn’t make the inevitable need for a surgical repair any easier to take.

“It feels great, I missed it so much so even losing, it just feels good to be out there,” Brusha said after her team’s one-point loss to the DMV Lady Tigers on Saturday.

Even as a freshman at Abington, where she found her way into the starting lineup for a state playoff team, Brusha wasn’t playing at 100 percent. An injury that was initially diagnosed as a bone bruise just seemed to keep lingering, forcing Brusha to get a second look at it.

“I kept having problems and when I went back, they said it was a partial tear of my ACL,” Brusha said. “I’d already been playing for so long on it they said I could keep going but that I might have to get it repaired eventually.”

Last May, the ligament finally had enough, putting Brusha under the knife right around the middle of her AAU season. She did the recovery, did the rehab and not too long ago finally got back on the floor.

Despite only being able to compete in a couple tournaments this summer, Brusha was eager to see where she was at.

“Physically, I feel great so now it’s just getting back into the mindset of playing,” Brusha said. “My body feels great, I just need to start being comfortable playing again.

“Coming back, I had to get my stamina back, I had to regain a lot of strength after surgery but I had good (physical therapists), I lifted a lot so I feel really strong, just as good as before I tore it and maybe even better.”

Brusha didn’t set any lofty goals for herself this summer. She just wanted to get back on a court, make a few moves with the ball, try to keep pace on defense and clear any mental blocks, calling the mental aspect the hardest part of sitting out.

She had the right environment waiting when she was cleared. Her older sister Sam, who played at Millersville and Bloomsburg following her career at Abington, also played for Penn Fever so Dani knew the program would be backing her up when she was ready.

“I love all the coaches, I’ve known them since I was little,” Brusha said. “It’s a good family bond and that’s between the players and the coaches too.”

Brusha expects to be full go this winter, but she’ll be wearing a different uniform when December and opening night rolls around. The junior is moving over to Lower Moreland, where she’ll join returning Honorable Mention All-SOL junior Briana McFerran leading an otherwise young team.

“I’m excited about that, hopefully we’ll have a good season,” Brusha said. “We have a lot of incoming freshmen that should be playing, so it’ll be interesting to see how it goes.”

Like her sister, Dani hopes to play at the next level but she’s understandably been a little preoccupied getting herself right this summer.

“I’m just going to keep working out, I’m still lifting, still getting my strength up,” Brusha said. “I’m ready to get back after it.”