City of Basketball Love

By Terry Toohey
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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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MALVERN – Abby Ferry and Sophia Tray don’t have to be told of the rich history of Villa Maria Academy basketball. They see it hanging on the wall every time they walk into the gym for practice and games.

That’s where the championship banners for all sports are displayed.

The Hurricanes have won so many District 1 basketball titles under longtime coach Kathy McCartney — 12 to be exact — that one banner isn’t enough. The list of champions by year spills onto a second banner with room for more. Villa has also been the runner-up eight times and has reached the district semifinals 23 times since 1992. Villa has finished first or second 16 times in the last 21 seasons (nine championships, seven runners-up).

“There’s a level of expectation,” said McCartney, who is in her 37th season and has won 700 career games and 18 Catholic Academies league (AACA) titles. “We’ve been good for a very long time so the expectation is to be good again.”

That’s a record few teams can match and Ferry and Tray want to continue that legacy of success going but they don’t feel pressure to do so.

“When we walk into the season we want to win but as McCart says, it’s not about what the score is at the end of the game, it's how hard you worked during the game,” Tray said. “She really harps on that. As much as she wants to see us win she wants to see us improve and play our best. If we’re not winning but we’re playing our best she’s happy with that.”

“We always want to give our best every game,” Ferry added. “McCart always says, ‘Be quick but don’t hurry.’ She says that all the time and that tells us that it’s OK to mess up. You just have to keep going on to the next play.”

That’s a phrase the late, great Hall of Fame coach John Wooden frequently said at practice while leading UCLA to 10 NCAA titles in 12 years. Basically, it means to act swiftly and decisively, but without rushing or feeling pressured. It’s meant to emphasize the importance of controlled speed and focused execution.

It’s one way to deal with pressure and a little stress isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Pressure makes diamonds,” McCartney said.

Making another run at an AACA and District title won’t be easy. McCartney must replace 70 percent of her offense from a team that went 18-10, lost in the district final and qualified for the PIAA Tournament for the 25th time in the last 36 years.

The biggest losses are guards Carly Catania and Emma O’Hare and forward Liz Sharp. Catania is playing at Division I New Hampshire. She led the Hurricanes in scoring (16.3), rebounding (7.3) and steals (2.3). O’Hare was third in scoring (8.2). She’s playing at Division III Hartford where she has started two of three games and is averaging 5.7 point and 3.0 rebounds. Sharp averaged 2.7 points and 3.9 rebounds. She is not playing college basketball.

“It’s going to be a retooling year for us,” McCartney said. “We’re going to wind up learning in December and then applying those lessons later in the year. We’re going to have a lot of new faces. I think we’re going to be young and we’re going to be hungry. We’re going to have to change up some of our stuff. We’re going to have to rely on our half-court defense and try to run when we can.”

Leading the returnees is Tray, a three-sport standout who will play lacrosse in college at perennial Patriot League champion Loyola in Baltimore. She was second on the team in scoring (9.3), rebounding (5.4) and steals (2.0), and first in assists (2.0) as a sophomore. She has scored more than 100 goals in lacrosse and has been part of three District 1 and one PIAA championship teams in field hockey.

“I was a leader last year so I’ll just do the same this year,” Tray said. “I’m just stepping into bigger shoes. I’ll have to take over a little more than I did last year.”

Ferry, a senior, is the only other returning starter. She averaged 2.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals.

“I think I have to be more vocal this year,” Ferry said. “I have to be more of the actual coach on the court. I sort of was last year as the point guard but I need to be more vocal with my teammates and let them know that it’s OK to make mistakes. Not everything’s going to be perfect all the time and we just have to keep working.”

Being more vocal does not come easy for Ferry.

“I’m not the most confident person in myself,” Ferry said. “The coaches have a lot of trust in me and that helps. I learned a lot from the seniors last year, especially Carly Catania, Liz Sharp and Emma O’Hara. They were very impactful on our team. They made sure that each one of us knew what we were doing.”

The only other varsity returnees who played as least 25 games last season are junior Briella Romeo (2.2 ppg.) and senior Sierra Dean (1.3 ppg.). Sophomores Ava Broadhurst, Rebecca Croft and Anna Vickers move up from the JV squad and are expected to fill in either starting or reserve roles.

“December is going to be a growing period for us,” Ferry said. “Hopefully we can win a lot of games in December and hopefully by January we will be full speed and shock a lot of people.”