City of Basketball Love

By Sean McBryan (@SeanMcBryan)

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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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Brianna Cullen understands what it takes to be part of a successful basketball team.

She played her junior and senior seasons at North Penn and led it — along with Erin Maher, Vicky Tumasz and Sam Carangi — to back-to-back Suburban One League championships and the program’s first district title in 2014.

Now she’s hoping for that same type of success as a coach, where she’s in her third year leading the Knights. 

“That was the only time North Penn has won a district title,” Cullen said of the 2014 team. “Obviously, I’d love to be on a district championship team that I played on and coached on. I love North Penn and what the program stands for. I’m glad to be in a position where I can carry that on.”

Cullen was a gritty, physical player in her time at North Penn, often doing the important things on the court that don’t show up on the stat sheet. Her coaches and teammates noticed — Cullen was a captain her senior year with the Knights and her junior year in college at Widener.

Cullen then played a graduate year at Chestnut Hill College, where she eventually coached as a graduate assistant for two seasons and realized she wanted to be a head coach.

She took over at her alma mater for Jennifer Carangi for the 2021-22 season.

“I think this year we’re starting to definitely turn over and step into what our goals are as coaches,” Cullen said. “The first couple of years (with North Penn) I was getting my feet wet and the girls were getting used to us. Now we’ve had time to put some offense and defense in and some different strategies. I’m hoping it rolls over into the season.”

North Penn went 6-10 in the SOL and 8-12 overall in Cullen’s first season and improved to 10-6 in the league and 13-12 overall last year. The Knights won a District 1 Class 6A playoff game before falling to Spring-Ford in the second round.

“Every year is a goal for growth,” Cullen said. “Our first year was a whatever happens, happens type of thing. We improved last year. We expect to be better this year and take a step up. We have some veterans coming back as opposed to building the last couple of years.”

Caleigh Sperling, a Jefferson University commit, heads that senior group, which also consists of returning starters Olivia Stone, a 5-10 wing and Cincinnati soccer commit, and guard Kelly Donnelly.

Stone, similar to her head coach back in her playing days, does a bit of everything on the court. She was a SOL Colonial honorable mention last season.

“Just stay confident, have a great year overall,” Cullen said of the Cincinnati soccer commit. “I can’t really ask for any more than what she already does.”

Sperling is a 5-10 guard and dynamo three-level scorer; she played AAU for the Lady Runnin’ Rebels and picked up the Hoop Group Showcase League 17U MVP this summer after leading the Rebels to the title. She was also a SOL Colonial first-team selection as a junior and comes from a family of athletes with her father Matt playing baseball and mother Jenna playing basketball at Drexel.

“Everybody knows that Caleigh’s able to score,” Cullen said. “She’s also a great defender. Our biggest goal for her is to take a step up in leadership this year. There’s no question about her skills. We really just want her to step up with some young kids that are coming up who she will hopefully leave the reins to.”

Jadyn Sperling, Caleigh’s younger sister, is a freshman who played varsity soccer this season and also competes with the Lady Runnin’ Rebels. She will likely see minutes for the varsity basketball team.

Donnelly adds a third high-impact senior to the group, another returning starter with experience at the guard position. Cameron Crowley, a junior and returning starter, adds another versatile piece to the mix.

Those four upperclassmen — Sperling, Stone, Donnelly and Crowley — will be key in replacing Abby Plaugher, an SOL Colonial second-team selection who is now playing at Salisbury (Md.).

The Knights last won an SOL title in 2016. Another season of improvement within the league will go a long way in getting back to districts and the state tournament, which they missed by one game last year.

“Of course we have those big goals,” Cullen said. “The biggest thing for us is taking it one game, one challenge at a time. Hopefully we improve again like last year and go further, but we can’t look too far ahead. Just gotta get there first.”