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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Tina Nicholson laughs at the notion. The former Downingtown and Penn State legend knows there is no hiding it. Entering her third year as head coach of Coatesville, Nicholson will have a bunch of players much like herself this season, tiny and explosive. If a few emerge with anywhere close to the skill level in which Nicholson played, the Red Raiders will be a formidable team.

Regrettably, that is still a work in progress—as are the Red Raiders.

In the meantime, Nicholson has the program going in a positive direction. In her first year, the Red Raiders finished 14-10 overall, and reached the Ches-Mont League final four. Last season, Coatesville made a one-game improvement, moving to 15-9 overall, and 8-4 in the Ches-Mont League National Conference, one game behind conference leaders West Chester East and eventual Ches-Mont tournament champion West Chester Henderson. The Red Raiders lost to Kennett in the first round of the Ches-Mont tournament and were upset, 60-59, to No. 19 seed Penncrest in the opening round of the PIAA District 1 Class 6A playoffs.

It haunts Nicholson.

“That still stings,” she admits. “We fouled someone with less than a second left on the clock. I’m still mad (laughs). We learned from it. I learned from it.”

Nicholson graduated guards Serenity Burgess and Alexis Fields from that team, along with wing Kate Ward.

What returns is a small group in stature, beginning with starting sophomore guards 5-foot-4 Makiah Datil and 5-5 Gianna Jackson. Top rotational players back include 5-9 junior forward Gabriella Bookard and 5-7 junior guard Bella DiMatteo. They will be joined by newcomers Kaylin Monterroso, a 5-9 junior forward transfer from Minnesota, and two transfers from Collegium Charter, 5-foot-6 senior guard Kori Beasley and 5-6 junior guard Nasira Towels.

Perhaps the most impactful addition will be 5-3 freshman guard Milan Bryant, the younger sister of former Coatesville and La Salle star Jhamir Brickus, who has transferred to Villanova this season, and is the niece of former Coatesville legend LaToya Brickus, who is one of Nicholson’s assistant coaches.

“We are small,” said Nicholson, laughing. “We have two 5-9 girls, and one of them, Kaylin, is brand new. She has great hands and I think she can help us this year. Since we’ve started the summer, Milan Bryant has made the biggest leap. She’s pretty good. It’s in the family, I guess (laughs). They’re all good. But we will have to win by forcing teams to play faster than what they like; try to make them play out of control a little bit. It will have to be a fast-paced style on both ends. That will be to our advantage.”

Nicholson also promised a lot of minutes to go around. Depth may come from 5-6 sophomore guard Ava Barber and 5-7 freshman forward Jenasia Holmes.

One thing is certain, Nicholson will be throwing Bryant into the deep end of high school varsity basketball immediately. She takes to coaching very well. Nicholson likes how attentive Bryant is, like a sponge. If she is told to do something once, she picks it up fast, according to Nicholson. If Bryant is unsure of a play or a press, she has no problems asking questions, a trait Nicholson embraces. Bryant will be sharing the point guard duties with Datil.

“I’m ready,” Bryant said. “We are small. We will have to play tough defense, move the ball and play fast. Coach Nicholson wants us to pay attention, be aware of where we are on the court and play good defense. I’ve been a little nervous (playing the older, bigger girls). I’m adjusting. I’m used to playing girls my age. These girls are older, and they are bigger.”

Datil will certainly be able to provide her new backcourt mate with advice since she started as a freshman. She stressed the team’s strong connection off the court will translate well on to the court. She also knows that the Red Raiders will run a lot every game.

The style is not easy, Datil admitted, but the Red Raiders do have the team built for it.

“That’s how we are going to have to win,” Datil said. “We have no real height. Pressure is all we have. We are going to be smaller than probably every team we face. But we are also going to be faster than almost every team we face. Last year, we played a little slower. This year we are getting used to running. Our weakness will be rebounding. It even means us little guards will need to help.”

As Nicholson worked the sidelines this summer exhorting her team on, installing the various presses the Red Raiders will be applying, she was often sweating more than her players.

“That, I guarantee you, will change,” she said, laughing. “This will take time with a young group. I can see Kori and Nasira really breaking out this year. I wish we had them last year. They were what we were missing. They can both score. They are both really good defenders, and they have picked up my system fast. They are leaders and I love Nasira’s energy. We need that. We need to make it further than the first round of the district playoffs. We need to get better. I want to bring Coatesville girls’ basketball back to where it was in the late-1980s and early-1990s, when I played against them.”

Towels is ready to make an impact. She sees a team that could possibly play into March. She also knows what is ahead to overcompensate for their lack of height.

Defense will need to create offense.

“Always pressing is a challenging way to play,” Towels said. “Yeah, you can say that, coach Nicholson is trying to turn us into a bunch of little coach Nicholson’s (laughs). We will be playing a lot of full court pressure, and the mindset will need to be where to be on the court and when to be there. We’re going to be tired. We will have to fight through it. Once we get the presses down, once we get everything down, we can be good, we can be really good.”

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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.