City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The first-ever girls’ edition of the Philly Live event is rapidly approaching, with 26 teams representing all of the tri-state area coming to Jefferson University for games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

It’s the first local event in the girls’ scholastic live recruiting period, which this year takes place a week before the two boys’ weekends. The live scholastic weekends are the only times all offseason when Division I coaches can watch high school prospects play in competitive games against other teams, outside of open gym workouts. 

The full list of participating teams: A.I. DuPont (Del.), Abington, Absegami (N.J.), Audenried Charter, Bethlehem Catholic, Chester, Conwell-Egan, Council Rock South, Delaware Military Academy (Del.), Freire Charter, Gloucester Catholic (N.J.), Hightstown (N.J.), Holy Spirit (N.J.), Imhotep Charter, Lansdale Catholic, Lebanon, Our Lady of Mercy (N.J.), Paul VI (N.J.), Pennsbury, Shawnee (N.J.), Springfield (Delco.), St. Thomas Aquinas (N.J.), Upper Dublin, West Catholic, West Philadelphia, Woodbury (N.J.)

— Paul VI (N.J.) takes on Audenried Charter to open things up on Thursday in a battle of one of the top teams in South Jersey against the queens of the Philadelphia Public League. PVI, which is where NCAA standout Hannah Hidalgo starred for four years, now features rising senior Azanah Campbell, rising junior Rachel Thatcher and rising sophomore Brooke Stagliano, one of the area’s best shooters. Audenried has one more year of being led by Penn State commit Shayla Smith, one of the top scorers in the state, along with fellow rising senior guard Senaya Paker and junior wing Aniyah Cheeseboro. 

— Lansdale Catholic vs. Gloucester Catholic (N.J.) on Friday pits two Division I prospects head-to-head in LC’s Grace McDonough and GC’s Jahzara Green. McDonough, a 6-2 rising senior forward, has pulled in more than 20 offers this spring, including every Big 5 school outside of Temple and tons of mid-to-high-majors from all over the region. Green, a versatile 6-0 rising junior wing, has numerous high-major offers of her own, and both of her parents are high-level athletes.

Here’s the full schedule:

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Thursday, June 13
4:10 PM
Court 1: Paul VI (N.J.) vs. Audenried Charter
Court 2: West Catholic vs. A.I. DuPont (Del.)

5:20 PM
Court 1: Abington vs. West Philadelphia
Court 2: Chester vs. Delaware Military Academy (Del.)

6:30 PM
Court 1: Upper Dublin vs. Audenried Charter
Court 2: Shawnee (N.J.) vs. A.I. DuPont (Del.)

7:40 PM
Court 1: Council Rock South vs. Paul VI (N.J.)
Court 2: Woodbury (N.J.) vs. Delaware Military Academy (Del.)

8:50 PM
Court 1: Upper Dublin vs. Imhotep Charter
Court 2: Conwell-Egan vs. Shawnee (N.J.)

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Friday, June 14
3:00 PM
Court 1: Upper Dublin vs. Lansdale Catholic

4:10 PM
Court 1: Our Lady of Mercy (N.J.) vs. St. Thomas Aquinas (N.J.)
Court 2: Freire Charter vs. Chester

5:20 PM
Court 1: West Philly vs. Holy Spirit (N.J.)
Court 2: Gloucester Catholic (N.J.) vs. Lansdale Catholic

6:30 PM
Court 1: Abington vs. Freire Charter
Court 2: Pennsbury vs. Our Lady of Mercy (N.J.)

7:40 PM
Court 1: West Catholic vs. Lebanon
Court 2: A.I. DuPont (Del.) vs. Conwell-Egan

8:50 PM
Court 1: St. Thomas Aquinas (N.J.) vs. Pennsbury
Court 2: Delaware Military Academy (Del.) vs. Springfield (Delco.)

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Saturday, June 15
9:10 AM
Court 1: Springfield (Delco.) vs. Absegami (N.J.)

10:20 AM
Court 1: Bethlehem Catholic vs. Council Rock South
Court 2:  Imhotep Charter vs. Gloucester Catholic (N.J.)

11:30 AM
Court 1: Absegami (N.J.) vs. Hightstown (N.J.)
Court 2: Holy Spirit (N.J.) vs. Lebanon

12:40 PM
Court 1: Springfield (Delco.) vs. Woodbury (N.J.)
Court 2: Paul VI (N.J.) vs. Bethlehem Catholic

1:50 PM
Court 1: Hightstown (N.J.) vs. West Catholic
Court 2: Lansdale Catholic vs. St. Thomas Aquinas (N.J.)