City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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CoBL’s first in-season girls event isn’t messing around.

We’re proud to announce the 2023 CoBL Girls’ Winter Classic, the first of what will certainly become an annual celebration of the area’s best girls basketball teams and talent. This one-day, two-court event will take place on Sunday, December 17 at Jefferson University, with 28 teams from four different states participating.

The area’s most prominent girls’ program, Westtown School, is headlining the event, the Moose stacked with talent back from last year’s GEICO National semifinalists. Freshmen Jordyn Palmer and Jessie Moses are amongst the best players not just in their class but in the country, and they’re just two of at least seven Division I prospects on Fran Burbidge’s roster, including Temple commit Savannah Curry and fellow senior wing Zahra King, sophomore Atlee Vanesko and more.

Here’s the full list of teams participating: Abington, Archbishop Carroll, Archbishop Ryan, Audenried Charter, Bishop Shanahan, Blair Academy (N.J.), Cardinal O’Hara, Conestoga, Council Rock South, Friends’ Central, George School, Germantown Academy, Great Valley, Kennett, Nazareth Academy, Notre Dame, Neumann-Goretti, Penn Charter, Pennsbury, Perkiomen Valley, Sanford School (Del.), Shipley School, Spring-Ford, Springfield (Delco.), South Shore Christian (Mass.), Upper Dublin, West Catholic, Westtown School

The non-local teams are absolutely loaded: 

• Blair Academy (N.J.) comes down from North Jersey coming off a MAPL and New Jersey Prep ‘A’ championship season with a loaded squad led by four-star junior wing Kennedy Henry (Virginia Tech), sophomore forward Priyanka Ponnam, and sophomore guard Isabela Grant, both of whom are high-major targets; look out for senior guard Zeynep Ozel, who’s coming off a great summer with Jersey Gemz.

• Sanford School (Del.) is the defending Delaware state champions, capping off an undefeated season with a DIAA championship win over Ursuline. They're led by senior captain Tyler Edwards, a Fairleigh Dickinson commit, while junior guard Jada Snow has blown up this summer with all sorts of Division I offers. Junior Ellie Carter-Soriano and sophomore Naomi Allen were both honorable mention all-league last year as well.

• South Shore Christian (Mass.) comes down from the Bay State, with a new-look roster under the direction of first-year head coach Devin Hill, who’s also the school’s new athletics director. Hill’s brought in a bunch of talent to the program, including senior wing Kelian Cedano, a Temple commit, plus fellow seniors Janeya Grant (St. John’s) and  Amany Lopez (Rider) and keep an eye out for sophomore guard Zariah Ottley as next up.

As for the in-state talent:

• Archbishop Carroll is the defending PIAA 6A state champs, taking down previously-unbeaten Cedar Cliff in the title game. The Patriots return senior guard Brooke Wilson (Army) but have some exciting youngsters in the mix, including freshman guard Abbie McFillin — whose two older sisters, Felicity and Maddie, also play for Carroll — and sophomore Alexis Eberz.

• Audenried Charter won the Public League last year for the first time in program history, making it to the second round of the PIAA 4A playoffs. The Rockets boast one of the top recruits in the area and the no-doubt most dominant girls’ player in the city right now in 5-9 guard Shayla Smith, a true three-level scorer who helped Philly Rise win the Nike 16U championships this summer.

• Penn Charter, the defending Inter-Ac champs, return a high-level backcourt of junior guard Kaylinn Bethea and freshman Ryan Carter, both of whom have more than a handful of Division I scholarships. Carter, a 5-11 guard with tons of length, is one of the area’s brightest young talents, with offers from all sorts of high-major and high-academic programs.

• Perkiomen Valley won the District 1 6A championship last year with five sophomores in the starting lineup, and the Vikings only got better this offseason with the return of junior Grace Miley from injury, joining classmates Quinn Boettinger, Grace Galbavy, Lena Stein, Julie Smith and Bella Bacani plus senior Anna Stein (Kutztown) to form one of the tightest and deepest cores around.

• And that’s just scratching the surface…Cardinal O’Hara boasts La Salle commit Joanie Quinn and junior wing Molly Rullo, who has nearly 20 Division I offers. …Friends’ Central has junior wing forward Logyn Greer, who’s got more than 30 high-major offers. …more Division I targets include Conestoga sophomore Ryann Jennings, Upper Dublin sophomore Megan Ngo, Neumann-Goretti juniors Amya Scott and Carryn Easley and more.

Matchups will be announced later this month; admissions costs for both the general public as well as college coaches will be announced closer to the event.