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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There is a twinge of leftover angst swirling around the Perkiomen School basketball team this season. The Panthers were stung by the injury bug last year, leaving coach Kerrie Kosakowski to play with makeshift lineups. As expected, a team beset by injuries never gained any cohesion in practice. That translated into unsteady play in games. This version of the Panthers wants some payback for a season in which they never got a chance to be what they felt they could be.

Instead of a winning record, depleted Perkiomen School slogged its way to finish 10-12 overall, beat Academy of the New Church (53-33) in the first round of the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association (PISAA) tournament before losing to eventual three-time defending PISAA tourney champion Westtown School (79-29) in the second round.

Kosakowski enters her fourth season as head coach with a hungry, healthy team—for once. Three starters return in 5-foot-9 senior guard Pearl Bixler, 5-4 senior point guard Jaycee Merizalde and 5-4 senior guard Amarilis Shubick. Others back include Lilly Kovaleski, a 5-5 freshman guard, who played some minutes as an eighth grader last season, and 5-10 Faith Bixler, Pearl’s younger sister, who was on the team as a middle schooler last year and will contribute as an eighth grader.

What Kosakowski is anxious to see is how the newcomers fit in. She brought in six new players, the most that have arrived in her tenure for one full season. Topping that list is 5-10 post-grad senior Sam Wade, from Germantown Academy. At GA, Wade was a shut-down, on-ball defender, chosen as the Patriots’ Defensive Player of the Year her junior and senior years. She wanted to hone her offensive game and decided to play another year of high school ball to attract college scouts.

Kosakowski is certainly happy to have her.

“Sam comes with maturity and someone who has played a lot of the teams we play,” Kosakowski said.  “She knows the intensity level of big games. We’re happy to have her as an older veteran. She is fitting in here really, really well.”

So, too, it seems as have 5-10 junior forward Imilia Feliz, from Connecticut, who brings good size and inside presence, and can play inside out, and 5-10 sophomore forward Isla Greaves, from Boyertown.

What will make the Panthers a far different team is a duo that they already have: The Merizalde-Shubick backcourt combination. The senior pair have never played together. Merizalde missed the first 17 games with a lower body injury. When she returned, Shubick was hit with an illness that sidelined her the final six games. Their plight was a microcosm of the Panthers’ season.

In mid-July, Merizalde committed to Division II Southern Connecticut. She has peace of mind knowing where she will be attending college after the uncertainty of watching the majority of her junior season from the bench. Kosakowski calls her the undoubted leader of the Panthers. Her absence swamped a pile of responsibilities on Shubick, who was forced to take on a new role handling the ball while further tasked with taking on the opposing team’s top scoring threat.

Sitting was frustrating, Merizalde admitted, although to some degree beneficial.

“Watching from the sidelines allowed me to see the game differently,” she said. “I know where everyone likes the ball. I can finally implement that on the court. As much as a step back last year was for me, I was super grateful to be close to my family (landing at Southern Connecticut). I think I can bring a level of maturity to this team. I know the style we play, and I want to help implement that with the younger players. I have a fire there from last year. This is my last chance to put my name in PAISSA history.”

And the fire has been spilling out in summer workouts and practices. Kosakowski purposely pits Merizalde and Shubick against each other. It brings out the best in both.

Shubick, a two-year starter, hopes to play college basketball. She was counting on playing with her pal Merizalde last season, until she got sick.

“We didn’t have time to practice together because someone was always hurt,” Shubick said. “I think we learned how much team chemistry does really impact games. We never had a chance to develop any team chemistry last year. This year, with everyone healthy, our record will take a great leap. We will definitely run more. Our main focus is pushing in transition. We want to capitalize on defensive stops. We don’t have size, but we can make up on that with our skill level. Our big focus is to have everyone attack the boards.”

The selfless Wade will play a role in that. She made sacrifices her senior year for a loaded GA team. She has acclimated quickly to this team.

“I really like our guards, Amarillis and Jaycee, they attract so much attention that they create open spots on the perimeter,” said Wade, who is getting attention from Division II and Division III schools. “It happened this summer, every time one of them drove the lane, they kicked it out to me, or whoever was out there to hit the three. I haven’t been here that long, and they have all made me feel so comfortable. This team is so close already. Even my first few games this summer with them I felt like I had been here for a while.”

The Panthers will be better this year, although their record may not reflect that, because Kosakowski has loaded up the schedule. She has high expectations for a team she will not have to paste together.

“Last year was tough,” she said. “We had a lot of talent, but we could not reach our peak. It’s no one’s fault. We had to play through. That team last year played to a fault. We will know what our identity is through the first few games this year. With Jaycee, Amarillis, and now with Sam, we have good guards who can get it and go. I think we can have a pretty successful year. We’ve only been able to go past the first round of the PISAA tournament.”

This year, with health on their side, maybe the Panthers can go a little further.

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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.