City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2024-25 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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Chris Brennan is realistic. The Conwell-Egan coach is entering his eighth season. He lost five seniors to graduation on a team that finished 9-14 overall and 4-7 in the insane Philadelphia Catholic League last season.

So, Brennan is not about to pump any hyperbole into the hotbed of the Philly basketball ionosphere. He knows his current team is young. He knows it has potential to grow. He knows he has a few hidden gems in 6-foot senior forward Lily Milewski and spunky 5-5 sophomore point guard Brianna Jackson.

And he knows his team will continue taking its lumps in the rugged gauntlet that is the Catholic League. The difference this season is that he has a talented, youthful corps that can punch back—and possibly punch through to finish among the top four in the Catholic League.

This team will revolve around Milewski, who is getting considerable Division II attention. From the end of her sophomore season to the present she has expanded her shooting range. She is being recruited as a center, but Brennan may allow her to freelance on the perimeter to take advantage of her height and athleticism. Milewski has honed her footwork and three-point shooting. The Eagles will run their offense through her.

Brennan may even have her take the ball up on occasion this season.

“We will go how Lily and BriJack go,” Brennan said. “They are two special players that have really improved. Brianna is a diamond in the rough who can really play. We threw Brianna right in, against what she wanted to do. We did not want to do her a disservice by playing her down her freshman year when she was the best point guard on our team. Trust me, we had to live with some meltdowns, where she was overwhelmed, and she and the program have benefitted from that.

“Brianna could be like the Neumann-Goretti guards (Carryn Easley and Amya Scott). She is built like them, handles the ball like them and is fast like they are. I’m shocked no colleges have called me about that girl yet. That will change fast.”

Milewski said she is excited to lead this team. She knew to succeed at the college level she would have to take her game out. She says she has not abandoned driving the lane. She has sharpened her ballhandling and footwork on defense.

“This summer I did a lot more footwork drills and did things that were uncomfortable before, like bringing up the ball, but I’ve grown used to them,” she said. “I like this team. If we work together and find open looks, we can be good. We have fast, athletic girls who can get out in transition, and we will be pushing the ball.”

Controlling that will be Jackson.

She admits her freshman year was trying. She had to learn on the go. She said there were times when she panicked. A year of facing some of the best players in the state was daunting. Since then, she says, the game has slowed down considerably in a year’s time. Jackson has a lot of good things ahead of her.

She is a pass-first point guard. That’s her choice. Brennan would like to see her shoot more. And she feels that will happen.

But something had to happen first: “I had to improve my mental game,” she said. “I lost my love for the game a little bit. I put a lot of pressure on myself and that took the fun out. Playing freshman year made me think about certain things. I wanted to change that this summer. I wanted to have fun again. Playing for fun helped. I was not dwelling on things. I took the heat off myself.”

This summer, she stressed, she did not carry mistakes into the next play. A turnover or missed shot happened. It was over. Move on. She worked on her shot and ballhandling and enters her sophomore year filled with more confidence than she had last year.

She wants to pay it forward.

“We will have a lot of young players on this team, and I want to help them, because I experienced it,” Jackson said. “We can be pretty good. We will have more confidence. I want my teammates to know that they can depend on me.”

Brennan thinks so highly of Jackson that as a sophomore she will be one of the team captains.

Milewski and Jackson are his only two starters back. They will be getting support from 5-5 junior guard Ariella Parks, 5-6 sophomore guards Olivia Della Vecchio and Charlie Bennett and 5-8 sophomore guard/forward Jayla Butler. Adding depth will be 5-9 junior forward Ellenmarie Buck and sophomores Olivia Dittman, a 5-10 forward, 5-8 guard Venice Dennis and 5-6 sophomore guard Haley Prince.

Parks will be paired with Jackson in what will be a speedy backcourt. This could also be a deeper team, providing Brennan with the chance to put pressure on opposing teams. Press break was an issue last year.

“We got a little nervous under pressure. That will be different, because with me, Brianna, Olivia Del, you have three players on the court who can handle the ball and deal with the press better,” Parks said. “We worked on press break and dealt with it this summer. When teams were able to speed us up, we panicked. We didn’t this summer. I also think it’s because the (high school varsity level) is a lot slower for us now than it was last year. It has been for me. We’ve been able to work through the traps, even when other teams speed us up.”

Being the team’s lone senior, Milewski is referred to on the team as The Senior, and what Brennan is preaching to his group that age does not matter. He wants his team to compete and feels that they can.

The Eagles are a Class 4A team. Who knows what could open up in the Class 4A playoffs?

“Our goal as a coaching staff is to crack into that top five of (Archbishop) Wood, (Cardinal) O’Hara, Archbishop Carroll, Lansdale Catholic and Neumann-Goretti, and that is a spot we have not been able to hit,” Brennan said. “We aspire to do it. In order to get into the conversation, we have to be able to beat one of them. We want a state playoff berth in Class 4A. Is it realistic? Ask me in January. We are young. Some of these young kids will have to take a major step for that to happen.”

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.