City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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FORT WASHINGTON — Nal’la Bennett spent all offseason working on ways to impact the game beyond what she was best known for.

The Friends’ Central junior guard made her name as a sharpshooter last season, the 5-foot-7 guard bombing away without abandon for a Phoenix squad that finished second to Westtown in the Friends’ Schools League.

She’s spent the last eight months building on that, hoping to help replace spring graduate Sana’a Garrett, now a freshman-year starter at Jacksonville.

“This year I’ve got to become more of a point guard, not just a scorer,” Bennett said. “Been working on my ball-handling and just making sure coming off the dribble, making reads off the pick-and-roll and just stuff like that.”

Bennett showed some nifty moves with the ball in her hands in a Tuesday afternoon non-league game at Germantown Academy, but it was a typical Bennett bucket that was the back-breaker, her 3-pointer in the final minute left the ultimate game-winning points for the Phoenix in a 54-51 win over the Patriots. 

A South Jersey native, Bennett spent her freshman year at Timber Creek (N.J.), leading the Chargers in scoring as they won more than 20 games, according to NJ.com. She came to the City Ave private school last year and stepped right into a starting but complementary role to Garrett as well as classmates Logyn Greer and Kaiya Rain Tucker, the two forwards both enjoying breakout sophomore seasons.

Her 3-point shot was no doubt her best asset, Bennett willing to pull up from well beyond the arc, knocking down 87 of them last year, though she also had a nice mid-range jumper if she came off a screen and could finish at the rim in transition. 

That was enough to already pull in some interest from college coaches, and her further development over the summer didn’t hurt. She’s got three Division I offers at the moment, from Delaware State, Coppin State and Long Island, a visit to LIU already in the books. She said she’s been hearing from other schools including Fairfield, Wagner, and Fordham, all who want to see her make that move towards the ‘1’ as she approaches her collegiate years.

Against Germantown Academy, it was much more clear that she wanted the ball in her hands, getting to the rim in the half-court on several occasions, including a gorgeous back-handed flip with her right hand just past an outstretched defender as she finished with a team-high 16 points. 

“She’s the one player that developed the most out of my team,” Phoenix coach Vinny Simpson said. “All of my girls developed, but she’s the one that took the leap.

“She puts the ball on the ground, she shoots off the dribble, she’s learning how to attack the basket more, and she’s opening it up for her shots. She’s still got a long ways to go, trying to become a combo guard, but she did a great job today.”

Bennett hit the game’s biggest shot, a 3-pointer from the left wing after FCS had battled back from down nine entering the fourth quarter to tie it up. Playing a two-woman game with Kaiya Rain Tucker, Bennett fed the post from the left wing, then drifted towards the top of the arc; as soon as the defender on Bennett doubled the post, Tucker kicked it out, the shot hitting nothing but net. 

“Feeding the post, that was the main goal at first,” Bennett said, “but (Tucker) saw me, I was open, my feet were set so I just let it go.”

That shot completed a back-and-forth game which saw Friends’ Central go up 22-12 after one quarter but the hosts surge ahead with a 22-5 second. Seniors Izzy Casey (17 points) and Jess Aponik (10 points) were aided by a terrific two-way effort from junior point guard Jess Kolecki, who racked up 11 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. 

The Patriots keyed in on Greer, the Phoenix star wing forward with a couple dozen high-major offers, holding her to six points, though the 6-3 junior did grab 11 rebounds and dish out three assists. Tucker, a 6-0 wing forward with a few offers of her own, had a strong all-around game with 15 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks, two steals and two assists. 

With a starting lineup consisting of five seniors, including guards Saniyah Washington (11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) and Jordyn Adderly (2 points), Simpson is counting on wins like this to help build his team up to hopefully dethrone Westtown before they all leave high school. 

“I’m just telling them just stick with it, believe in yourselves, trust each other, play together, play hard, play smart and have fun with it,” he said. “I’m telling them you’ve got two years, make the best of it. You’re going to take a lot of bumps and bruises throughout this whole junior year, but come senior year you should be able to handle everything that’s coming your way.”

By Quarter
Friends’ Central:   22  |  5   |   9   |  18  ||  54
Germantown Ac.: 12  |  22  |  11  |   6   ||  51

Shooting
Friends’ Central: 24-54 FG (4-13 3PT), 2-4 FT
Germantown Ac.: 20-56 FG (6-16 3PT), 5-6 FT

Scoring
Friends’ Central: Nal’la Bennett 16, Kaiya Rain Tucker 15, Saniyah Washington 11, Logyn Greer 6, Londyn Mayo 4, Jordyn Addison 2

Germantown Ac.: Isabella Casey 17, Jess Kolecki 11, Jess Aponik 10, Gabby Bowes 9, Sam Wade 2, Jenn Aponik

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