City of Basketball Love

By Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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MORRISVILLE — While Alyssa Burkholder’s future is in the skies, she’s currently busy helping Renaissance Academy take off.

The lone senior in the Knights’ starting five, Burkholder has been among those at the controls as the program has continued to climb during its third season in the PIAA. Inspired by her grandfather, an aviator in the United States Navy, Burkholder wants to become a pilot once she graduates from Kent State.

Saturday, Burkholder and the top-seeded Knights were busy enough soaring to another new height as they downed No. 6 Delco Christian 47-35 to win their first BAL tournament title.

“What I really enjoy is that when it was time to come together, we came together as a family,” Burkholder said. “We were able to finish it strong together. We looked at each other, we were a team, we passed to open players and just played like a team.”

Renaissance Academy was formerly a non-PIAA school playing in the Penn-Jersey League. After the 20-21 covid season, which the school didn’t field any athletic teams, the Knights joined the PIAA and the Phoenixville-based charter school entered the Bicentennial Athletic League.

Burkholder, who played at Methacton as a freshman, got a front-row look at the team’s growth over the past three seasons. Last year, a second round loss in the BAL tournament, followed by a loss in the District 1 4A semifinals seemed to light a spark in a very young roster.

Knights coach Chris Corcoran, who took over the program in the spring of 2021 ahead of entering the PIAA, starts four sophomores next to Burkholder but isn’t surprised by this season’s results.

“A lot of it started last year,” Corcoran said. “They put the work in, along with the seniors, during the offseason. We had open gyms, the core group was always there and that’s just a testament to them that they wanted this. I tried to tell them you guys are talented enough to compete with anyone in this league, you just have to put the work in.”

The Knights went 17-4 in the regular season and swept through the BAL at 11-0 to earn the top seed in this year’s District 1 4A tournament. Corcoran, who had previous coaching stops at Girard College and Barrack Hebrew Academy along with a stint as an assistant at Arcadia, put a couple challenges on the nonleague slate to show his group what it would take to win a championship this year.

Losses to Phoenixville, Norristown, Pope John Paul II and Chester served a greater purpose. 

“It gives us a wake-up call,” Corcoran said. “I’m a big believer in, you go against bigger and better schools, that’s how you get better. I told them if you can compete with them, we lost to Norristown by five in a great game, that was the recognition moment so when we got to the BAL, it showed our kids where last year they beat up on us, this year we could beat them.”

The Renaissance Academy girls basketball team poses together after Saturday's BAL championship win over Delco Christian. (Photo: Andrew Robinson/CoBL)

Renaissance Academy’s strength is in its guards. Alongside Burkholder, sophomores Dallis Stewart and Saydi Daye - new to the team this year after transferring from Perk Valley - form a three-pronged attack at point guard that makes things go at both ends.

Daye leads the team in scoring at 14.4 ppg and steals at 4.6 per game adding 2.1 assists, Stewart posts 10.5 ppg, a team-high 2.8 assists and 4.4 steals. Burkholder, who adds 4.6 ppg, 1.4 assists and 1.7 steals per the team’s MaxPreps page, recognized the team her younger teammates had and tries to be one who keeps them on their flight path.

Saturday, the senior guard scored 10 points and was named the game’s MVP, something she called a nice surprise and was grateful to receive.

“It’s a lot of confidence they have to come in with, so as a leader on the team, I like to start the rally, get us all clapping and motivated,” Burkholder said. “I’m big on it being a serious time when it’s gametime and getting us in a game mindset.”

The Knights are aggressive in a full-court pressing defense and Corcoran’s preference is to settle into a man defense in the halfcourt, although the team went into a zone Saturday to combat Delco Christian’s height. Sophomores Aniyah Jones and Kasira Barber fill the starting frontcourt spots, both athletes who fit into the team’s system.

“We will defend full court and most of our games this year, we’re getting anywhere between 25 to 35 shots at the basket, just lay-ups,” Corcoran said. “We’re trying to go at 100 mph and put pressure on them. I have pretty much three point guards with Alyssa Burkholder, Saydi Daye and Dallis Stewart, all three of them can run point at any time. They’re so quick and ball-hungry, we can get turnovers, get the ball ahead quick and get layups.”

Burkholder said the Knights are at their best when they play together. It’s a group of talented players but when the five on the floor are able to give up some individual chances to benefit someone else, that’s when it all comes together.

The senior, who agreed the summer workouts were really key in the team’s growth, had a feeling something special was in store this winter.

“We went for a meeting before the season and everyone was just ready,” Burkholder said. “We were talking about championships already and I think that told us ‘we’re in this, we’re going into it to win.’”

Renaissance Academy will host Bristol, the team that ended the Knights’ season a year ago, on Tuesday in the District 1 3A semifinals. A victory there puts them in the title game against Morrisville or defending district champion New Hope-Solebury and a win away from the state playoffs.

Burkholder said she’s planning to try out for Kent State’s club basketball team next year to stay involved with the game. Before she takes off to college, then to the skies above, the senior would very much like to help her team soar on a state playoff run.

“It’s all due to the hard work that we come out with in practice every day,” Burkholder said. “We’re always ready to learn new things, when we step out on the court, it’s a mindset of basketball.

“We’re really excited, we want to make it to states and hopefully get that district title too.”

By Quarter

RENAISSANCE ACADEMY 10 | 10 | 15 | 12 || 

DELCO CHRISTIAN 6 | 6 | 15 | 8 || 

Scoring

RA: Dallis Stewart 18, Aniyah Jones 11, Alyssa Burkholder 10,  Kasira Barber 6, Saydi Daye 4

DC: Adelaide Smith 12, Ashanti Harris 11, Maggie Jenkins 7, Melina Mxaku 3, Anna Latchford 2