City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2023-24 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 6. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here.)

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For the last five years, Cindy Griffin’s been able to fill her point guard spot like television spokesman Ron Popeil suggested: set it and forget it. 

That’s the luxury the St. Joe’s women’s coach had the last five years thanks to Katie Jekot. The Cumberland Valley product started 123 out of 129 games she played, a six-game stretch in the middle of her freshman year the only exception, leaving Hawk Hill one appearance away from tying the program record for games played.

But Jekot’s eligibility has finally run out after six years on City Avenue, having spent a redshirt year on campus prior to first taking the court in 2018. Figuring out her replacement is the most pressing issue for a Hawks’ squad that otherwise has the pieces in place to have its best season in a decade. 

“That’s going to take some time,” Griffin said during an October interview. “She just knew pace of the game, pace of situations, understanding when to pull back — that is going to be a challenge for us.”

“Katie was such a leader, she knew everything inside and out,” senior guard Emma Boslet said. “Whenever anybody had a question, we’d go to Katie and she would just know everything.”

The Hawks are coming off a 20-win season, their first since winning 23 games in 2013-14, which was the last time the program made it to the NCAA Tournament. They finished in sixth place in the Atlantic 10 with a 9-7 record, advancing to the league tournament quarterfinals before losing to eventual champ Saint Louis.

With their top three scorers back — including a terrific frontcourt in junior Talya Brugler (16.7 points, 5.1 rebounds per game) and sophomore Laura Ziegler (11.8 ppg, 8.7 rpg) — a couple quality transfers and a strong freshman class, the pieces are in place for Griffin’s squad to take yet another step forward and compete for a league title. 

“We definitely feel like [the] pressure’s on, but we love pressure and we love to have that, own that and it’s a privilege to have that pressure on us,” Boslet said. “We’re just going to go out and use that pressure to motivate us to compete.”

But they have to figure out how to replace not just Jekot (6.5 ppg, 4.8 apg) but her backcourt mate Olivia Mullins (8.4 ppg, 3.0 apg), who transferred to James Madison to finish out her college career.

Griffin does have an intriguing mix of options to turn to:

• Boslet, a senior out of Bishop Ahr (N.J.), is a 5-11 wing guard who primarily played point in high school. In 54 career games off the bench for the Hawks (14.6 mpg), she’s filled in at the ‘1’ through the ‘4,’ averaging 3.3 ppg and 2.6 rpg as a junior, her best numbers yet. 

• Julia Nyström, a 5-7 junior from Sweden, has played in 59 games over her first two seasons, starting 26 games as a freshman (at the off-guard) but moving to the team’s top reserve as a sophomore, when she averaged 3.9 ppg and 1.2 apg. 

• Kaylie Griffin, Cindy’s daughter, is a 5-7 junior guard out of Gwynedd Mercy Academy. She appeared in her first 10 career games last year, playing a total of 28 minutes without scoring a point. 

• Bridget Monaghan, a 5-5 guard, transferred in this offseason from D-III University of Scranton, where she was a two-time Landmark Conference Player of the Year and earned WBCA All-American honors as a senior.

The off-guard is less of a concern: the Hawks brought in Chloe Welch, a 5-foot-9 graduate transfer guard from Davidson with 984 career points, as well as local products and league MVPs Gabby Casey (Lansdale Catholic) and Aleah Snead (Penn Charter); neither of them are likely to factor into the discussion at the ‘1’ but could both see minutes at the ‘2’ and ‘3.’ That’s before factoring in 5-10 junior wing guard Mackenzie Smith, who’s started 55 games in two years and was the team’s second-leading scorer a year ago (13.6 ppg).

Those who’ve been with the program a few years no doubt have the leg up in the short-term as Griffin aims to maintain the momentum built up a year ago. 

“That’s where Emma Boslet, that’s where Julia Nystrom, that’s where Kaylie, they understand what we’re trying to do,” Cindy Griffin said, “and I think early in the season you’re going to see the veterans a little bit more.”

Of course, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a guard who runs the St. Joe’s offense, at least not all the time.

Griffin and the Hawks expect to have a more versatile offensive attack, with Brugler and Ziegler showing themselves as capable ball-handlers and passers, each right around two assists per game last year. Griffin said she’s encouraging her whole team to start the break, to let whoever gets the rebound throw an outlet pass and get up the floor, not to wait around for one player to come get the ball and initiate offense.

“When you have different kids that can bring up the ball, it really starts your transition and starts the transition a lot earlier and causes a lot of matchup situations with [the] defense,” Griffin said. “I know we’ve had that done to us, and I know how hard it is to match up when they have forwards bringing up the ball. We’re going to be able to do that, and I feel really good about that.”

One other mark to keep an eye out for: as much experience as Jekot and Mullins brought, they were also two of the team’s worst 3-point shooters, combining to go 51-of-182 (28%) a year ago. More shots for Nyström (25-of-66, 37.9%) and Boslet (11-of-25, 44.0%), plus the addition of Monaghan — who shot 39.8% from deep in her years at Scranton — means the Hawks should be much-improved in that area after shooting 32.7% as a team last year.

“We want to be over 35% from 3,” Griffin said. “I think 38’s a great number. I think we can get there.”