City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Heading into her eighth grade year, Mac Pettinelli got a unique opportunity. 

Spring-Ford’s high school program was playing in a showcase down in Maryland and even though she was a year removed from joining the Rams at the varsity level, Pettinelli was invited to join.

It sparked a fire and ambition in the young player that she’s carried with her throughout her Spring-Ford career, which will conclude this winter.

“I think I realized that, ‘Oh this could be serious and I could really get good at this,’” Pettinelli told CoBL on the phone Tuesday. “Once we hit freshman year was really when I started to get into the go into shoot before school. Since that was during COVID, I was going to work outside, working out in the gym downstairs and just trying to get my speed and conditioning better and getting more shots up and more reps.”

Pettinelli knew early on she wanted her basketball career to continue after her high school, regardless of whether that was the Division I, II or III level. The destination started to come into focus this past spring when St. Bonaventure and new head coach Jim Crowley offered Pettinelli her first Division I scholarship. 

She had other offers from Rider and Stonehill College, but she announced her commitment to the Bonnies on Tuesday.

“I sat down with my family yesterday (Monday) morning and talked about it and then I called coach and we talked about everything and I’m super excited about it,” Pettinelli said Tuesday.

“St. Bonnies was my first offer back in April, so I got to know Coach Crowley over the last few months and he’s always been a huge support, texting, calling before tournaments. They would always be at our tournaments whether that was an assistant coach or himself. We’ve always had a strong bond over the last couple months that we talked.”

Crowley became the all-time winningest coach in St. Bonaventure history before heading to Providence for seven seasons. His return was announced on March 13, and the Bonnies got in touch with Pettinelli shortly after, getting her on campus in late April when she received her offer.

“He liked my versatility, whether that was playing bigger girls or playing smaller guards or scoring offensively and then coming back and playing big defensively,” Pettinelli said. “He said that I really fit his style of play.”

Pettinelli, a 5-10 guard/wing who played with the Comets GUAA squad, returned to campus a few weeks ago when the Bonnies’ team was there for summer session and things really clicked. 

“I’m really fortunate to have offers that were from different styles of schools,” Pettinelli said. “I think that each of them had their own individual strengths, but I think with St. Bonaventure, since they’re in the A-10 conference, I really wanted to challenge myself and take that big jump.”

Spring-Ford head coach Mickey McDaniel recalls watching Pettinelli as a seventh grader when her team came and played at the high school. As she knocked down shots from different parts of the court and found teammates with crisp passes, it was evident there was skill there that suggested she would become an impact player one day at the high school level.

When she arrived at Spring-Ford in 2020-21, playing a role as a freshman on the team’s state runner-up squad, McDaniel realized the intangibles were there as well.

“You can see players with skill, but you don’t know what’s inside of them until they move along a little bit and see how much they will improve and what the game will mean to them,” McDaniel said. “When we saw her as a freshman, we realized that basketball was important to her and winning was important and being part of a team was important.”

Pettinelli averaged 9.1 ppg, 4.9 apg and 6.5 rpg for Spring-Ford last season as the Rams went to the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship game, the District 1-6A semifinals and PIAA second round.

One of the distinguishing qualities throughout her career has been her court vision and unselfishness. She’s always ready to find a cutting teammate or kick to someone open beyond the line and has a good understanding of where players should be on the floor.

“I always knew when I got older I wasn’t going to be a tall or really, really fast kid, so I thought I have to get better at something else that’s not just being strictly a shooter,” Pettinelli said. “Passing is something I really tried to develop and IQ and then getting to know the players individually to know what their strengths are. At a young age growing up and into high school, that really developed my IQ to where it is now.”

McDaniel noted the Rams challenged her to improve her shooting ability and look to be more of a scorer and she answered that call.

Last season, she knocked down 33 threes and improved her percentage from 31 to 38 percent and has continued to be in the gym working on her shot before or after practices and open gyms and even other days as well.

“She put the work in, she’s invested her time and she’s being rewarded for that,” McDaniel said.

Pettinelli’s visions of playing at the next level can be traced back to her childhood in Collegeville when she trained on her neighborhood basketball courts with former Rams stars Shelby Mueller (Lycoming) and Sammy Stipa (Lafayette), who led the program to a state title in 2013. Pettinelli said she continued to go watch Stipa at Lafayette during a prolific collegiate career, which inspired her as a young player.

When Pettinelli got to the high school level in 2020-21, she shared the court with another Spring-Ford legend, Lucy Olsen (Villanova), as the Rams advanced to the state title game. Olsen congratulated her on Monday and Pettinelli believes the Wildcats point guard will be a great resource as she proceeds throughout her own D1 career.

“It was super, super surreal,” Pettinelli said of her commitment. “When I was younger, I always knew that I wanted to play basketball, whether that was D1, D2, D3 and I think realizing that I can get to that stage and that level really lit a fire. Once I got that first offer, I realized, ‘Oh this is possible.’ So I just wanted to keep working."

Pettinelli has helped the Rams win two Pioneer Athletic Conference championships and a District 1-6A championship in her first three seasons at Spring-Ford. The Rams fell just short of another PAC title last winter and advanced to the District 1-6A semifinals for the third straight season.

She and classmates Anna Azzara, Aaliyah Solliday, Katie Tiffan and Siena Miller have eyes on finishing their careers with one last deep postseason run this winter. 

“Our goal has always been to win a state championship,” Pettinelli said. “I think that’s a lot of teams’ goal and only a few get to do it. I’m hoping in our last year, our final year, we get to do that. We have to get back with our team, and then I can’t wait for the season to start, getting back up and just being able to work with our squad again.”