City of Basketball Love

By Justin Procope (@1Procope)

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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2023-24 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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When the Bishop Shanahan girls lace them up this winter, much more will be on the line then another shot at a district championship. It will also mark the last dance for a trio of seniors whose careers have been intertwined for years.

Faith Ambrose, Abbey Wolfe and Sam Blumenthal have played together since the fall of their eighth-grade years when they first teamed up in AAU for the Delco Goats.

The three seniors are the only returning players from last season’s Eagles team that went 24-6 and made it to the state quarterfinals, and they are looking to enjoy one last season together.

“It’s bittersweet,” Ambrose said. “We’re sad about it, but also really excited.”

Bishop Shanahan reached the District 1 Class 5A championship game in 2022 when Ambrose, Wolfe and Blumenthal were sophomores. Blumenthal and Wolfe were both starters on that team.

Last season, the Eagles fell to Villa Maria in the District 1-5A semifinals, finishing one game shy of a return trip to the Liacouras Center. They instead went down to Temple as spectators with senior Alyssa Brown and watched league rival West Chester Rustin hoist the district championship trophy, a feeling they desperately want to avoid in their last season together. 

“She was saying how I wish we could have been playing,” Blumenthal said. “So for us, I don’t want to have that feeling that she had sitting there watching the game. I want to be in that game.”

Brown, a two-time first-team All-Ches-Mont League selection, is gone along with five other former seniors, including second-team all-league selection Alexa Bojko.

Blumenthal was a first-team All-Ches-Mont pick, Ambrose was a second-team pick and Wolfe was an honorable mention last season.

Much more will be placed on the shoulders of those three now as the lone seniors on the team and only returning players from last season’s squad that made it to the state quarterfinals before falling at the hands of eventual champion Archbishop Wood. 

“They’re going to have to carry the load, I don’t think that’s a secret,” head coach Jim Powers said. 

Blumenthal, who recently committed to Catholic University, makes up the muscle inside for this group. The 5-foot-10 center is relentless on the glass and possesses great skill and footwork in the post. Defensively, she is a vocal leader on the floor, always communicating with her teammates and urging them to do the same. 

Ambrose and Wolfe make up the perimeter threat for the Eagles, both dangerous shooters from the outside. Ambrose came off the bench last season but will now be running the show as the point guard, adept at creating shots out of the pick and roll thanks to her speed and ball-handling ability. Wolfe is the do it all 5-9 wing that glues the team together, capable of scoring from the outside and getting her hands in passing lanes for steals. 

“We have one of every position, it’s not like we’re three guards or three point guards — that would kind of stink,” Blumenthal said with a laugh. “We’ve got someone like me in the paint, Abbey on the perimeter and Faith running the point. We just need the other pieces.”

Those other pieces will be made up of all freshmen and sophomores, including Ambrose’s younger sister Carmel. Catching the younger players up to speed and learning where they fit in has been one of the main priorities of the offseason for the Eagles, Powers said. He hopes having such an experienced core of seniors will make the transition smoother. 

“We have them to fall back on,” Powers said. “Anything thrown at them, they won’t be shocked.”

“I put the ball in Faith’s hands. … I’ll survive until the kids come along with her. Knowing you have those three to lean on while you build that young group, it’s a big help for us. It makes us feel a bit more confident and makes us a little more at ease.”
Wolfe has been impressed with what she has seen out of the new additions so far. 
“I think the underclassmen show a lot of potential,” Wolfe said. “They’re all really athletic.”

The strength of this team last season has been its lethal ability from the outside. But as the expression goes, you live by the 3 and you die by the 3. That attack from deep that worked so well for the Eagles all season abandoned them when it mattered most in losses in the Ches-Mont championship game against Rustin as well as the semifinals against Villa Maria. 

While they certainly will still be getting up a lot of 3s, there will be an effort to play a more balanced, inside-out style. 

“Last year we were a big shooting team, and I think this year we’re going to try to go in and out with the bigs,” Ambrose said. 

Despite a roster full of young players, the Eagles feel capable of making another deep run. Teams like Rustin and Villa graduated a lot of seniors, leaving the Ches-Mont and district up for grabs.

“We have really good potential,” Ambrose said. “We want to win the Ches-Mont championship and the same with districts. … We should have a really good chance.”
To go out on top would mean everything to this trio of standout seniors. No matter what happens, all they want is to have no regrets.

“We all want to have a really good last season together and get off the court knowing we gave everything we had,” Wolfe said.

“And have fun,” Blumenthal added as they all began to laugh.