City of Basketball Love

By Zak Wolf (@ZakWolf22)
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Jessie Moses isn’t a typical high school freshman. 

The Westtown guard already has a full high school season under her belt, something she never expected when searching for her future high school home.

Moses played alongside classmate Jordyn Palmer for the Moose last season as an eighth grader, helping her squad navigate a national schedule, win a Friends Schools League and Pennsylvania Independent Schools championship and play at the GEICO Nationals.

“I felt like last year I didn’t really notice how crazy it was for me, an eighth grader playing up,” Moses said. “But now looking back, I was just amazed by how like two eighth graders got game time and impacted the team like we did.” 

Last season was a slight adjustment for Moses. She was used to starting every game in middle school. As an eighth grader playing with and against girls several years her senior, she had to get used to coming off the bench at times. 

It was an “intro” for what she needed to do going forward. 

“I had to find something that other people maybe didn't do as well to get on the court and just find the stuff that our team was missing so I could incorporate that in a game,” Moses said. 

Moses, a 5-foot-10 point guard, starred on the Philly Rise 15U team this summer, setting the stage for a big freshman year with the Moose.

The Moose are out to a good start following last season’s lengthy list of accomplishments with wins over highly-touted programs like Bishop Ireton (Va.), Sidwell Friends (D.C.) and Red Bank Catholic (N.J.). A 77-18 victory over Friends’ Central, last year’s FSL runner-up, highlights the gap between the Moose and the rest of the area.

In her second season with Westtown, Moses is once again on a roster full of Division I prospects. This year, she has a more featured role. 

“Last year looking up to the seniors, it showed what I needed to do,” Moses said. “So now that I'm in the spot to perform. I feel like all the doors are open for me.” 

She has the ball in her hands more as a pure point guard after playing off ball at times in eighth grade. She learned a lot from seniors like Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick (Seton Hall) last season, but feels like she has “more freedom” to create for herself and others this year. 

“I feel like now playing the one, it's just more natural for me and I feel like I'm not hesitant. I can just go without worry,” Moses said

Since last year’s season at Westtown and a summer playing for the Philly Rise, Moses has accumulated a number of Division I scholarship offers, including a few high majors.

In recent months, Boston College, Syracuse, Michigan, Arizona State, Wisconsin and Villanova all extended scholarship offers to the freshman, adding to her already long list of schools. Moses also holds previous offers from Rutgers, St. Johns, Marquette, Florida, Penn State and St. Joe’s.

She’s taken visits to schools like Florida, Penn State, St. Joe’s and Maryland. Duke is another program that’s expressed interest.

“I feel like they are all very similar, but they all have their special touch that the coaches give,” Moses said. “The vibe of the coaches and the players impacts a lot on like, maybe decisions on like, where I'd want to go.”

The goal is to continue to keep working and open up even more opportunities for herself down the line.

“It just pushes me to be better, knowing that I have a target on my back now with offers as a younger kid,” Moses said .“It also just feels good and that my hard work is finally paying off so I feel like it's good and bad at the same time.”

Westtown has three new eighth graders in the fold this season in twins Rhadi and Ishana Sundararajan along with Trinity Ingram. 

After being in their shoes last year and knowing how difficult it was for her at times, Moses is trying to guide the way for the young group.

“It takes a lot of responsibility, but I feel like now I'm set for it after playing eighth grade,” Moses  said.

“The fact that I got to play in eighth grade and see what I need to work on and be ready for at the high level going to Westtown, I feel like that was really important.”