City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2024-25 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 4. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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As always, Philadelphia basketball is everywhere.

Year after year, dozens and dozens of Philly-area ballplayers are spread around Division I rosters, from East Coast to West Coast, North to South, low-major to high-major and everywhere in between. Each fall, CoBL rounds up all of those local prospects to update you on how their careers are going and what’s expected of them in the year to come.

We’ve split the area’s D-I alumni into a three-part list, the whole thing way too big to run all at once. Here’s Part 2 of our 2024-25 CoBL alumni roundup, featuring around 20 players who are on a Division I roster this season.

(If we’re missing someone, let us know: cityofbasketballlove@gmail.com)

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2024-25 Alumni Roundup: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 

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Deja Evans (Soph. | Drexel)
Evans’ first season of college basketball was a highly successful one, albeit one played at Albany. The Archbishop Wood product started all 29 games she played, averaging 8.1 ppg and 7.1 rebounds per game with a pair of double-doubles. Evans, who also tallied 46 blocks and 20 steals, earned All-Defensive, All-Rookie and Third Team All-Conference honors in the America East. The 6-foot-2 forward joins a Dragons roster coming off a CAA title and NCAA Tournament appearance.

Kaitlyn Flanagan (Jr. | Holy Cross)
Flanagan continued to be a model of consistency for the Crusaders, starting all 34 games at point guard as her team repeated as Patriot League champion and made the NCAA Tournament. The Plymouth Whitemarsh alum tallied 7.3 ppg and 4.4 assists per game, racking up a total of 151 helpers during the season while also taking care of the ball with just 56 turnovers for a 2.7 assist-to-turnover ratio. Holy Cross saw a lot of change this offseason, but the program still has an extremely dependable point guard to run the show.

Hannah Griffin (Soph. | Holy Cross)
Griffin appeared in 10 games in her freshman campaign as part of a deep Crusaders backcourt. The Gwynedd Mercy Academy alum, the younger of St. Joe’s head coach Cindy Griffin’s two daughters, will compete for an expanded role on a new-look Holy Cross roster.

Casey Harter (Soph. | Northwestern)
Harter made a quick impact in her first season in Evanston, earning 16 starts in her 30 appearances. The Souderton grad averaged 5.3 ppg, 2.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists, tallying 69 assists against 40 turnovers. Harter, who also had 14 steals and seven blocks, is in line to again have a significant role in the rotation for the Wildcats.

Jaye Haynes (Gr. | Monmouth)
Now in her fifth year in college Haynes has 115 games (37 starts) under her belt between her three years at La Salle and her time at Monmouth. Last year, the 5-8 guard from Germantown Academy played in 32 games for the Hawks with six starts, averaging 3.3 ppg and 1.8 rpg in just around 15 minutes of action. 

Diamond Johnson (Gr. | Norfolk State)
The former Neumann-Goretti standout concludes her college career in her second year at Norfolk State, for whom she enjoyed her best statistical collegiate season: 20.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 2.9 apg on .433/.383/.836 shooting splits. But the 5-5 guard has been productive no matter where she’s played, racking up career averages of 14.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 2.7 apg while hitting 38.6% of her career 3s (219-of-568) between her time at Rutgers, NC State and now Norfolk State. 

Gianna Johnson (Fr. | Delaware)
A Levittown native who patrolled the paint at George School the last few years, Johnson brings her imposing 6-5 frame down to the First State, where she becomes the tallest member of the Blue Hens’ roster by a good three inches. 

Zahra King (Fr. | California)
King, the No. 76 prospect in the Class of 2024 according to ESPN, comes to Cal after spending the last few years at the Westtown School, though she didn’t play for most of her senior season. As a junior, the 5-10 wing guard averaged 10.7 ppg and 4.3 rpg, earning first team all-state honors. 

Helena Lasic (Jr. | Penn)
A 6-4 post out of the Westtown School, Lasic has played limited time in 11 games in her first two seasons, scoring a total of seven points and grabbing 13 rebounds.

Maeve McErlane (Jr. | DePaul)
McErlane struggled with injuries her freshman year at DePaul, which limited her to only 13 games (1.2 ppg). But the 5-10 guard out of Notre Dame started 25 of 31 games as a sophomore, averaging 4.6 ppg, 2.9 apg and 2.2 rpg; improving her shooting percentage (29.1%) will be a major focal point for her junior year. 

Laine McGurk (Soph. | Drexel)
On a Drexel squad struggling for offense early in the year, McGurk was a revelation as she came off the bench to score 20 points in her second-ever college game, one of four-straight double-digit outings. The 5-10 guard from West Chester Rustin cooled off for a good while after that, though she did explode for 21 points later in the season against Monmouth. For the year, she averaged 6.4 ppg, good for fourth on the team in scoring, despite averaging only 13.2 mpg.

Clare Meyer (Jr. | Dartmouth)
A 6-1 forward out of Germantown Friends, Meyer doubled her production from her freshman year (4.1 ppg/2.2 rpg) to her sophomore one, averaging 8.2 ppg and 4.9 rpg while starting 26 games for the Big Green last season. Her best game was a 24-point explosion against Harvard, her only game with more than 14 points; she also grabbed 11 rebounds for one of her two double-doubles on the season, both against Ivy League opponents. 

Paige Mott (Gr. | George Washington)
Mott spent all of her undergraduate career at Northwestern, making the move from Evanston to Washington, D.C. for her final year of hoops. The 6-1 forward from Abington Friends played in 113 games with 68 starts in her Wildcats career, averaging 8.0 ppg and 4.9 rpg as a senior; her best scoring season was her junior year, when she averaged 8.9 ppg on 52.7% from the floor. She did set her career best with a 23-point game against Wisconsin in January, her first game over 20; she also compiled three of her four career double-doubles last season.

Lucy Olsen (Sr. | Iowa)
In three years at Villanova, Olsen proved herself to be one of the best scorers in Division I hoops, her 23.3 ppg in 2023-24 third amongst all players. Now the 5-9 guard from Spring-Ford is taking on perhaps the biggest challenge in D-I this year — going up to Iowa to try to fill some of the void left by superstar Caitlin Clark. Olsen will need to get her 3-point shooting back to where it was her sophomore year (35.6%) after a drop-off as a junior (29.4%) as the focal point of the Wildcat offense following two years alongside Maddie Siegrist. 

Grace O’Neill (Jr. | Drexel)
O’Neill has racked up a lot of on-court experience already, averaging 33 mpg while starting 63 of 64 games in her Drexel career thus far. The 5-7 guard from Archbishop Carroll upped her rebound (5.3 rpg) and assist (3.1 apg) numbers over her freshman season, though her scoring dropped a little to 5.1 ppg as her shooting numbers took a substantial hit. She’ll be a major piece for Amy Mallon’s defending CAA champs yet again. 

Kaitlyn Orihel (Sr. | Villanova)
Orihel’s junior year was no doubt her best with the Wildcats, starting eight of her 33 appearances while posting 6.0 ppg and 2.4 rebounds. Archbishop Wood’s all-time leading scorer, the 5-foot-9 guard shot 49.7% overall and 36.7% from three. Orihel will be leaned on heavily for a Villanova roster that’s seen significant overhaul from a year ago.

Lauren Patnode (Fr. | La Salle)
One of 11 newcomers on the Explorers roster, Patnode comes from Saratoga Springs by way of the Perkiomen School, where she finished as a 1,000-point scorer and First Team All-State selection as a senior. The 6-0 wing guard has good size and three-level scoring ability. 

Mackenzie Pettinelli (Fr. | St. Bonaventure)
A 5-10 wing, Pettinelli was a Swiss Army Knife during her years at Spring-Ford, not needing to score much to have an impact on the game, racking up steals, assists and rebounds along the way. She’ll bring her unique style to Olean, where she’ll see if that game translates to the Atlantic 10.