City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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HATBORO >> It’s the 30th  anniversary for the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s Summer Basketball League, the long-running league offering current non-Division I college players and alumni of any level a competitive setting to fill the summer.

This year’s league features 10 teams, six of them composed mainly of a D-II or D-III roster (Arcadia, Chestnut Hill College, Goldey-Beacom, Holy Family, Jefferson and West Chester), two alumni teams and the final two squads drafted together from the remaining players. The league runs with games on Tuesday and Thursdays at Kelly Bolish Gym (save for a bye week for the 4th of July holiday), all teams then qualifying for a league playoff.

From incoming freshmen getting a first look at their new teams to some local legends still lacing up the sneakers for the fun of it, the league lives by its mantra that all players should be given the opportunity to hone their skills for the upcoming collegiate season, have fun and stay fit.

Here are a few notes from the league quarterfinals and semis played July 23 and 25:

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Tori Nigro (RS Soph. | Jefferson)

The cycle of players doesn’t stop in college basketball; when one leaves, the next up steps right in.

That’s where Tori Nigro finds herself now heading into her third year at Jefferson - the first a redshirt, then last year as a backup - ready to assume the mantle at point guard. All she has to do is replace a player who created more assists than anyone in Rams history in Morgan Robinson but Nigro knows she doesn’t have to replicate her predecessor, she just has to be the best version of herself.

“I’m really excited, with the redshirt year then playing behind Morgan, I definitely learned a lot and I’m eager to get back out there,” Nigro said after Thursday’s semifinal. “It’s been a while, I’m excited to take responsibility and be a leader figure for my team.”

Nigro, who finished her high school career at Villa Jospeh Marie as the AACA’s MVP after St Basil Academy closed following her junior season, wasn’t in a rush to get on the floor in college. She wasn’t going to supplant Robinson, also a 1,000-point scorer and an outstanding defender, so the lefty point guard used her two first two seasons learning as much as she could.

“The number one thing was the way she got people open shots, she made a record doing that,” Nigro said. “Learning to get people open shots, it’s a higher level and the defense is better so when I get into gaps, trying to get people open looks is a big thing I’m taking from her. 

“Her defense was always really good. She was really long, but she showed that the intensity always has to be there, so that’s also really big.”

Robinson graduated with 826 career assists. In her first season off the redshirt year, Nigro had 17 helpers. That’s why Nigro knows there’s no reason to try to be the same player as Robinson and instead, play to her strengths.

There are things Nigro, at 5-foot-4, does that the 5-foot-9 Robinson didn’t do and vice-versa.

“For me, getting into the lane and beating people off the dribble is something I look to do more than Morgan did, but she could pick people’s pockets more,” Nigro said. “I think my strong point is beating people off the dribble, then dishing or going up strong.”

Players that commit to Tom Shirley’s program know there’s going to be some waiting involved. Most recruits redshirt their first year and it may be a year or two following that before they start to see an uptick in playing time.

In an era where roster overhaul on a year-to-year basis is becoming commonplace, the Rams have continued to succeed with their approach to development. Nigro readily agreed that it’s been a huge benefit to her already.

“Just physically it helps, you get stronger, quicker and more used to the game just being in practice,” Nigro said. “Mentally, knowing what Coach expects and getting those reps with your teammates, it makes playing in games that much easier when your time comes.”

Along with Robinson, the Rams also graduated two-time CACC Defensive Player of the Year Halley Meinel and sharpshooting guard Emily Keeehfus from last season’s CACC champion and NCAA East Region finalist team. Nigro and her classmates, Emily Spratt and Jordyn Thomas, got their first reps last season after redshirting together their first year in East Falls and the trio all figure to see more of a role going forward.

Jefferson also has a solid core of returners led by reigning CACC Player of the Year Sam Yencha and CACC Second Team selection Cassie Murphy. Nigro said she’s excited about the amount of good players surrounding her on the roster and the Rams’ success in her first two years in the program is plenty of motivation to help keep that going.

“That gives me a lot of confidence, Spratt and Jordyn, we usually end up on the same team in practice but having all those reps with all of them really helps us in games,” Nigro said. “I trust them and I trust myself getting them the ball.”

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Daniella MacDonald (Fr. | Wheaton College)

As she saw more and more of her teammates decide to play basketball in college, Daniella MacDonald decided she didn’t want to get left out.

The Pennsbury graduate, who also played club basketball with Philly Heat North, hadn’t initially planned to keep playing once her senior year ended. A knock-down shooter and an overall smart player who fit her roles well, the guard not only changed her mind, she found a good fit for herself.

It was a bit of an unusual recruiting process for MacDonald, but she’s eager to see what the next few years bring up in New England at Wheaton College.

“I was late in the recruiting process, I was going back and forth over whether I wanted to play or not but I finally decided I wanted to,” MacDonald said. “Wheaton had reached out to my AAU coach, (Mike) McFadden, wondering if any of our girls were interested. He knew I didn’t want to stay local, I was really the only one who wanted to branch out far. I talked to the coaches, went up there and fell in love with the small town and the team.”

MacDonald was recruited by Allison Chernow, a 2016 Upper Dublin graduate who served as an assistant at Wheaton from 2020-23 and took over as the interim head coach last year. Naturally, the two hit it off almost immediately through their ties to the area and Chernow did her best to sell the positives of Wheaton despite her own future there being up in the air.

Ultimately, Chernow didn’t get the job on a full-time basis and has since taken an assistant job at Lehigh while Wheaton named Kanika Cummings as its new coach in early May. While she was disappointed she wouldn’t get to play for a coach she’d built a good rapport with, MacDonald said her early talks with Cummings have been positive and she’s eager to see what the new staff is bringing to the program.

“We had a little Philly thing going on,” MacDonald said of the relationship she’d built with Chernow. “It was sad to see her go but it didn’t change anything for me. Part of it was the coaches but a big part of it was also the girls and the team.

“I also just loved the school, especially how small it was. It’s smaller than Pennsbury, which is crazy.”

Playing for Frank Sciolla at Pennsbury, MacDonald’s floor-spacing was highly valuable on offense and the guard became really good at moving off the ball and relocating to an open spot on the perimeter. She also grew as a defender as an upperclassman and was a key player for the Falcons on both ends of the floor.

Style-wise, Philly Heat North played at a different tempo with an emphasis on getting up the floor and getting up shots. Playing with a bunch of good shooters like Cam Gregory and Miranda Cantor - opponents in high school at CR South and again this summer in the league - allowed MacDonald to be a little more ambitious offensively.

“I think it’ll prepare me for anything,” MacDonald said. “With Pennsbury being so defensive-oriented and disciplined then Philly Heat just getting to play with that freedom on offense, I think it was a good mix between the two that made my game more versatile.”

This summer, MacDonald played on one of the league’s drafted teams with a roster full of other Division III players. With most of her teammates having gone through at least one college season, MacDonald said she was able to glean a few tips and bits of advice. Overall, she really enjoyed the group she played with and is aiming to come back next summer.

MacDonald, who is planning to major in business, finance and management but hoping to add a minor that focuses on some of her other passions like photography and graphic design, is most looking forward to the new relationships she’ll make playing in college. So, she’s pretty glad she changed her mind about not playing after high school.

“I just knew I was going to miss this,” MacDonald said. “I couldn’t let myself give up playing basketball that easily. I’ve been playing basketball since I was five, I couldn’t give it up.”

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Leah Johnson (Class of 2024 | West Chester)

There was no chance Leah Johnson was going to just leave basketball behind.

Her college eligibility expired at the close of the 2023-24 season but only after the 5-foot-5 guard from Columbus, NJ had authored one of the best careers in West Chester history. She scored more points than anyone else in Golden Rams history and helped lead a major turnaround for the program with a slew of accolades to go with it.

The setting wasn’t quite as intense this summer, but Johnson proved she was still plenty capable of filling it up.

“I just love basketball,” Johnson said. “It’s the best, basketball’s the best sport in the world.”

Johnson played on one of the league’s two teams of predominantly college alumni that included Jess Huber, Alexa Naessens and Molly Masciantonio among others. Their playoffs came to an end in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, fittingly enough against West Chester’s summer squad a few players Johnson was calling teammates this time a year ago.

As far as her exploits at West Chester, Johnson said the magnitude of her accomplishments still hasn’t really sunk in. She’s already putting her two degrees to good use, working as a financial analyst for a firm in Manhattan on a hybrid schedule that allowed her to still make the commute over from New Jersey to play in the league, but Johnson said it’ll probably hit her in a couple months when it normally would have been preseason time.

“You talk about it, but I don’t know that it’s really hit yet, maybe that’ll come in August when I don’t go back to school or October when I don’t put on a jersey,” Johnson said. “I still talk to the coaching staff there almost every day.”

Johnson arrived at West Chester during a difficult time for the program. The Golden Rams went 9-18 her first season, then 9-19 in 2021-22. An influx of transfers prior to the 22-23 season helped orchestrate a total turnaround while Johnson remained a major catalyst even as the team changed around her.

“The last two years specifically, the friendships I made and the people I got to be around, I’ve got friends for life there and I consider the coaching staff really close people in my life,” Johnson said. “On the court, being able to turn the program around and go from single-digit wins my first two years to two NCAA Tournament runs, a Sweet Sixteen appearance, I’m proud of leaving the place better than I found it.”

Adding Emily McAteer and Michelle Kozicki as Division I transfers and Anna McTamney from the closing USciences within that transfer class before her junior season changed the script for Johnson. Looking at the guard as strictly a scorer is unfair anyway, she had three triple-doubles in her career and just because she piled up points at a record pace, it didn’t stop her from recognizing and utilizing the talent around her as 620 career assists will show.

“My first two years, I basically got to do whatever I wanted,” Johnson said. “At the beginning of the last two years, it became about jelling with people who just as good as me and deserved the same shots so it was really understanding ‘I need to be the point guard now,’ pass the ball and just because I could get a shot up, it didn’t mean it was the best shot.”

As a smaller guard, Johnson adapted. She’s a maestro in the midrange, which she chalked up to extensive work with her trainer Lexie Gerson, but also used an array of little moves, fakes, creative finishes and plenty of shiftiness to get her looks.

Johnson said she’s planning to come back again next summer, joking she may not be as good a year from now. Somehow, that seems a little hard to believe.

“I had to be able to outsmart my opponents,” Johnson said. “It started with a good midrange game and my IQ came along. I watched a lot of film over Covid, learned how to move laterally a lot better, I saw what I wasn’t good at and needed to get better.

“That year off for Covid that changed my game, made me who I was and showed me that if you work harder than other people, they can’t keep up with you.”