City of Basketball Love

By Emily Sims (@emsims222)
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Villa Joseph Marie head coach Caroline Gray came close to district titles as a player.

Gray and the Jems had two runner-up finishes in 2011 and 2012, but graduated in 2014 unable to hoist the District 1 championship trophy.

Now as head coach in 2024, Gray and the rest of her team were finally able to pose with the gold. 

“Last year, we didn’t even make playoffs. And this year we’re district champions. It feels awesome,” Gray said after her team took down Pope John Paul II, 47-23 in Saturday’s District 1-4A championship game at Harriton High School.

The last time VJM ended their season with a gold medal around their necks was 2002, when they were crowned the District 1 2A champion. Along with Gray’s two title game trips as a player, the Jems (14-10) reached the championship in 2020 and 2022, but they couldn’t quite trade that silver medal for a gold one. 

Villa Joseph Marie girls basketball celebrates Saturday at Harriton High School after beating Pope John Paul II for the District 1 Class 4A championship. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Gray took over at her alma mater last season as the team finished 6-15 and missed the postseason entirely. Gray’s plan of action this season was to take it step by step instead of gunning for the top right off the bat.

“It’s small goals,” Gray said. “I think you have to start with attainable goals, especially last year when it was a much different environment that we were playing in. We set very attainable goals to keep our season alive and to continue to be able to achieve things. And this year–the same group back–from the jump, I think we knew that we had a better group and we had a better chance.”

As the old saying goes, defense wins championships — and Saturday against PJP (14-10) Villa Joseph gave truth to that saying. 

The driving force behind VJM’s defense came from senior point guard Riley Deal, who finished the day with seven steals. She scored her first two points of the game off a shifty steal in the first quarter, setting the competitive tone for the rest of her team. 

“It’s contagious,” Gray said about Deal. “She gets the whole team going. As soon as she starts playing the level of defense that she’s capable of, she is so easy to influence the rest of the kids on the court.” 

Even with Deal’s defensive work setting the tone for the game, the first quarter didn’t leave much room for comfort, as Pope John Paul trailed VJM 7-10. However, Pope John’s offensive efforts began to slow as Villa Joseph gained a more comfortable 22-12 lead going into halftime thanks to a few three’s from senior guard Ava Gumienny.

Holding a 10-point lead heading into the second half, Gray knew the key to clinching this victory would be a team effort on both offense and defense. 

The VJM scorebook reflected the team effort as nine of the Jems’ 11 players scored in the game. Deal walked away with 12 points on top of her defensive accolades, leading the Jems in both offensive and defensive statistics. Her fellow starters were not far behind as Grace Pizzica, Julia Mack and Gumienny all finished with eight points apiece. Seniors Elizabeth Grunwell and Kendall Gayton also got into the scorebook

As the second half rolled around, young and upcoming players of VJM were able to follow in their upperclassmen’s footsteps to add onto the lead. Freshmen Avery Akright and Lucy Jasionis scored two points apiece, along with an added layup from sophomore Haley Dickson, making the third quarter Villa Joseph’s strongest offensive effort. 

The Jems totaled 16 points in the third while holding the Panthers to four. Deal had a nice block and steal play to help bring the score up to 38-16 going into the final 8 minutes of playtime. 

With the next two weeks off before states, the Jems plan on using this time to rest and improve their offensive strategies. The Jems set foot on the court next on Saturday, March 9th for the first round of the PIAA 4A State Championship with hopes to see the Giant Center for the finals on March 23rd. 

“I think when we’re at practice we need to keep it competitive, not mess around,” said Deal. “Just improving on all those little things that we’re already good at to just make them better. I think that we can compete in states and try to make a run.” 

By Quarter

VJM  10 | 12 | 16 | 9 || 47

PJP  7 | 5 | 4 | 7 || 23

By Scoring

VJM: Riley Deal 12, Grace Pizzica 9, Julia Mack 8, Ava Gumienny 8, Elizabeth Grunwell 2, Avery Akright 2, Kendall Gayton 2, Lucy Jasionis 2, Haley Dickson 2

PJP: Katie Nilles 8, Sophie Vigliotta 5, Brooke Albeck 5, Rylee Derecola 3, Grace Fitzgerald 2