City of Basketball Love

By Pryce Jamison (@hooplove215)
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For Westtown girls baskebtall coach Fran Burbidge, ensuring that his team is blocking out the noise that’s coming from outside of the locker room is a major priority as he tries to make sure his Moose stay hungry.

“Our goal is to get better as individuals and get better as a team, and coming in with that sense of work ethic,” he said. “Obviously we have some talented kids who can kind of get by with just their talent, but that’s not their job and that’s not our job as a coaching staff.

“People look at us from the outside and see Westtown with a lot of talented kids, but they don’t understand the sacrifices that these kids and their families are making, in the sense that they’re away from home,” Burbidge added.

In his fifth year as head coach, the Cardinal O’Hara graduate with a 40-year coaching history is maintaining this discipline and has cruised through another season with the Moose, carrying 24-2 and looking to conclude another dominant run to the PAISAA championship, where they will face Friends’ Central on Sunday at St. Joe’s Hagan Arena at 5 p.m.

Since his arrival, and the gradual addition and development of superb talent, the program has transformed into a force that now makes their dominant results against local competition seem normal.

Westtown has gone 24-0 in the Friends School League since 2021-22, including 8-0 in the league this season. They captured their fourth FSL championship in a row in a victory over Friends Central on Feb. 9, 64-33, making a Phoenix squad with multiple Division I talents, including star 6-3 junior Logyn Greer and classmates Kaiya Rain Tucker, Nal’la Bennett and Saniyah Washington, look subpar.

That’s only a fraction of the dominance the Moose have displayed against local competition. No one locally has played them closer than 19 points. That includes victories over Philadelphia Catholic League champion Archbishop Wood (58-30) and Archbishop Carroll (63-43) and most recently Inter-Ac co-champion Notre Dame (66-41) in the PAISAA semis.

“We understand there are going to be games where it’s going to be a mismatch, but the mindset is to always respect the game and respect the opponent,” Burbidge said. “And these kids are learning that and God bless them, they’re doing a good job with that.” 

The Moose, who have gone 68-11 over the past three seasons, have far surpassed the rest of the area, particularly in the last two years. 

Two seasons ago, Westtown survived Penn Charter, 51-50, for the program’s first PAISAA title, but the Moose breezed by the Quakers, 74-54, last season. Sunday’s title game looks to be more of the same as Westtown has wins of 59 points and 31 points already this season against an FCS squad that is arguably the area’s second or third best team.

A likely third straight PAISAA run, and second in a row where the Moose have looked untouchable, begs the question of what’s next for the program? 

Senior Temple commit Savannah Curry and 6-1 forward Michelle Olak will depart. But there will still be Division I prospects Olivia Jones and Aiden Langley in the 2025 class and another Atlee Vanesko in 2026. The rest of the area still has three more years to deal with star freshmen Jordyn Palmer, already a nationally ranked prospect, and Jessie Moses, who has received 13 Division I offers.

Who knows what the rest of the talent pool will look like come next winter.

“A lot of them could stay at their local high schools and arguably be 2,000 point scorers, but they give that up; they understand that they're playing with a lot of other really good players,” Burbidge said. “So sharing the ball and trying to be a great teammate are all investments that they're putting in their toolboxes for that next level, which they’re all going to go play at.”

The Moose have drawn national attention with their recent run.

Last March, Westtown was invited to the annual GEICO nationals tournament in Fort Myers, Fla., where the top teams in the country go toe to toe. Despite coming up short in the semifinals in a 58-51 defeat to Montverde Academy (Fla.), they showed how much they can keep up with some of the best teams in the nation, which has carried over into this season and is something that will only continue.

This season, they have traveled to Washington D.C., Virginia, and to a Jordan Classic event in New York, putting their dominance to the test. Westtown went 4-2 this season when facing national competition, including a win over Sidwell Friends (D.C.), which MaxPreps ranks No. 4 nationally. Their only defeats came from No. 7 IMG Academy (Fla.) and Winston Salem Christian School (N.C.). Westtown has won 20 in a row since the back-to-back losses Dec. 7 and 8.

“We’re getting a lot of overtures for next year already, of people wanting us to come to their events far and away, but that’s not something we pay attention to,” Burbidge said. “We’ll deal with whatever is coming when that time calls for it, and that’s what I’ve been telling the people that have reached out. We’re not even thinking about next year [right now]; If they want to revisit us when our season is over then that’s fine.”

“Like I said to this group when this year first started, most of the noise is probably going to be very positive for these guys, but it’s still noise,” Burbidge added. “If you want to be successful in this game, you have to have a clear mind.”

Burbidge has coached multiple state champion, an AAU national championship and even reeled off three Ches-Mont League championships locally at Bishop Shanahan before his run at Westtown.

He plans to carry out the rest of his coaching days with Westtown, but isn’t thinking about when the finish line is going to be as the game is still fulfilling him.

“As long as I’m still enjoying it and as long as I believe the kids are still enjoying it, then I’m going to stay with it — the gym has been my social life,” Burbidge said. “I know so many people from all over because I enjoy anybody that’s looking to help kids. Are we going to coach against each other and butt heads? Yeah… but I want your kids to be successful too.”