City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) &
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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As the college basketball season hits its approximate midpoint, it’s a good time to poke around the country and see how some local products are doing. 

Here’s a look at a whole bunch of non-Big 5 area high school alumni finding success at the Division I level this season on the women’s side; CLICK HERE for the men’s side:

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Bri Bowen (So. | Quinnipiac)
Bowen didn’t see any action last season at Delaware, but she made an early impact at her new home with a game winning buzzer beater against Rhode Island in late November. The Archbishop Wood product is averaging 2.1 ppg and 1.5 rpg 11 games into her time at Quinnipiac but her role is starting to increase, recently scoring a career-high 10 points against Yale.

Alexa Brodie (5th | Colgate)
Brodie and the Raiders are out to an 8-4 start to the season. Brodie, a CB South grad, is averaging 9.5 ppg, which ranks second on the team and is the highest mark of her career (with the exception of her sophomore campaign when she played just seven games). She’s shooting 45.6 percent from the floor, which is also a career best. She started Patriot League play with a bang, tallying a season-hgh 21 points in Wednesday’s win.

Anajah Brown (Sr. | Siena)
Brown has slowed after an explosive start but she’s following up a breakout sophomore campaign with another strong season. A 6-foot-1 forward from the Baldwin School, Brown is averaging 8.5 ppg and 6.1 rpg and has started in all 11 games she’s played in.

Kassondra Brown (Gr. | Rutgers)
The former Abington standout is wrapping up her college career with a second season at Rutgers. Brown is averaging 7.6 ppg and 5.8 rpg in 21.5 mpg, while coming off the bench for the Scarlet Knights. She was on a role in December, averaging 13.6 ppg and 5.4 rpg in Rutgers’ final five games of 2023.

Maggie Doogan (Soph. | Richmond)
Doogan has been the best player on a 12-3 Richmond team, leading the Spiders with 16.6 ppg and 5.3 rpg on 54.3 percent shooting from the field and 40.6 percent from 3-point range. She’s gone for double figures in 13 of her team’s 15 games, including five outings of 20-or-more points. She was named National Player of the Week and A-10 Player of the Week in late November.

Deja Evans (Fr. | Albany)
Evans picked up her second America East Rookie of the Week honors and also added Player of the Week on Tuesday after 26-point, 17-rebound outing against Navy. The 6-foot-2 forward from Archbishop Wood has started all 13 games for the Great Danes to start her career, averaging 8.6 ppg, 7.5 rpg and more than one block per game. She’s reached double figures in three straight games as Albany is out to an 11-2 start.

Kaitlyn Flanagan (So. | Holy Cross)
The Plymouth Whitemarsh product already has 45 starts under belt after starting all of last season. She’s averaging 6.6 ppg, 4.3 apg and 2.1 rpg. She leads the Patriot League in assists and is among the top 40 players in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.6:1). She matched a season-high with seven assists and added 10 points in her team’s Patriot League opener against Bucknell on Wednesday.

Casey Harter (Fr. | Northwestern)
Harter is averaging 6.9 ppg and 3.7 rpg in her first college season after a standout career at Souderton. She played her way into the starting lineup by mid-December and has started six straight games for the Wildcats, including a 13-point outing against Temple in Philadelphia. After averaging 2.6 ppg in her team’s first five games, she is averaging 9.3 ppg over her last nine.

Diamond Johnson (Jr. | Norfolk State)
After transferring from both Rutgers and NC State, Johnson wasn’t ruled eligible by the NCAA until a court ruling forced their hand a couple weeks ago. In her first four games with NSU, the 5-5 Neumann-Goretti product is averaging 20.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 2.8 apg and 4.3 spg after a 12-point, seven-steal, six-rebound outing in a win over Longwood. Her availability is a major boost for the defending MEAC champs.

Maeve McErlane (Soph. | DePaul)
A Notre Dame Academy product, McErlane missed half of her freshman season due to injury but is making up for lost time as a sophomore. Starting 12 of the Blue Demons’ 15 games, she’s averaging 4.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg and 3.0 apg with an assist-to-turnover ratio better than 2-to-1. She showed her scoring abilities with a 26-point outburst against Alabama State on Dec. 17, one of just two double-digit outings this season.

Mandy McGurk (Gr. | Fordham)
McGurk spent her undergraduate years at Penn, averaging 8.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg and 2.8 apg as a senior a year ago, forced to use her final year of eligibility elsewhere due to Ivy League graduate student restrictions. In her only year at Fordham, she’s started in six of her 14 appearances, averaging a career-best 8.5 ppg on 41.4% shooting and 32.7% from 3-point range in an off-guard role.

Clare Meyer (Soph. | Dartmouth)
A 6-1 post out of Germantown Friends, Meyer went from a part-time starter as a freshman to full-time as a sophomore, averaging 5.8 ppg and 4.4 rpg in 20.0 mpg, all a solid step up from last year; she’s also converting on 56.9% from the field, a significant improvement from last year (33.3%). Meyer’s yet to have her first collegiate double-double but she’s flirted with it a couple times, including a seven-point, 13-rebound effort against Merrimack.

Paige Mott (Sr. | Northwestern)
Mott’s in her second year as a full-time starter for the Wildcats, who have a Philly-heavy presence, as noted above. In 14 games (all starts), the 6-1 Abington Friends product is averaging 8.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 1.8 apg, the latter two the best numbers of her career, and she’s also averaging better than a block per game for the first time; she’s averaging 11.2 ppg over her last five games, including a season-high 16 points against Bradley.

Sanaa Redmond (Jr. | Rider)
In her first year at Rider, the Shipley School product has jumped right into a starting role, averaging 5.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.9 apg and 1.0 spg — all career bests — while playing 28.8 mpg, also a new high for the 5-5 point guard. She’s only hit double figures once, notching 11 points in the season opener at St. Joe’s, but she’s done a good job of stuffing the stat sheet in just about every game.

Kaylene Smikle (Soph. | Rutgers)
Smikle’s already closing in on 1,000 career points, the 6-0 Westtown School product following up on her fantastic freshman year (17.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg) with a terrific sophomore one, her scoring number dropping slightly (16.1 ppg) but her rebounds (5.1/game) and assist (2.5/game) numbers rising. She looked like she was taking her game to another level with eight-straight double-digit games (20.9 ppg), but only played five minutes at Northwestern and missed their last game. 

Raanee Smith (Sr. | Sam Houston State)
A 6-2 wing from Imhotep Charter, Smith spent her first two years at Colorado where she struggled to break into the rotation, then transferred to Sam Houston, where she played in 54 games (five starts), averaging 13.0 mpg the last two years. She’s had a breakthrough as a senior, starting 12 games and averaging 11.7 ppg and 9.9 rpg in 30.1 mpg, all career highs by far, and she’s also averaging 2.5 rpg.

Bella Smuda (RS-Jr. | Liberty)
Just like Smith, Smuda is having a major breakthrough in her fourth collegiate season. A reserve for 93 games over the three seasons prior, the 6-5 Downingtown East product is averaging 13.2 ppg, 9.0 rpg and 2.6 bpg in 15 starts this year, all about double what she produced last season, and she has four double-doubles in her last seven games — including 14 points and 16 rebounds at NC State.

Maddie Vizza (Sr. | Northeastern)
Vizza has spent the last two years wracked by injuries, but the 5-6 Germantown Academy product is back healthy and producing this season. The sharpshooter is 22-of-59 (37.3%) from deep, having only taken two shots all season inside the arc, which has her averaging 7.2 ppg in 10 games (all starts). Vizza’s highlight this season was a 7-for-11 effort from deep against Wagner for 21 points.

Cire Worley (Fr. | UMass-Lowell)
The freshman forward from Abington has jumped right into the rotation at UMass-Lowell, playing in 11 games off the bench for just under 20 minutes per contest, averaging 5.5 ppg and 2.5 rpg. The 6-0 wing has a pair of double-digit outings, including a season-high 12 points against UMass, and she recently grabbed a season-high seven rebounds against Maine.