City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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January is the month of girls’ basketball showcases, with terrific events on each of the next four weekends showcasing many of the area’s top teams and players. It starts this upcoming Sunday with the annual Blue Star Invitational, which will have two courts at Jefferson University going all day long, with some of the nation’s top teams taking the courts.

Here’s the complete schedule, followed by a closer look at several of the top matchups:

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Court 1
Cardinal O’Hara vs. Ursuline Academy (Del.) (9:45 AM)
Friends’ Central vs. Fort Erie (Can.) (11:05 AM)
Westtown School vs. Virginia Beach Catholic (Va.) (12:25 PM)
Red Bank Catholic (N.J.) vs. LI Lutheran (N.Y.) (1:45 PM)
Archbishop Wood vs. Paul VI (Va.) (3:05 PM)
Audenried Charter vs. Paul VI (N.J.) (4:25 PM)

Court 2
Shipley School vs. Germantown Academy (9:30 AM)
West Catholic vs. Plymouth Whitemarsh (10:50 AM)
Neumann-Goretti vs. Bethlehem Catholic (12:10 PM)
Upper Dublin vs. Rutgers Prep (N.J.) (1:30 PM)
Archbishop Carroll vs. Notre Dame (2:50 PM)
Imhotep Charter vs. George School (4:10 PM)

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Friends’ Central vs. Fort Erie (Can.) (11:05 AM, Ct. 1)

Fort Erie, which comes down from just over the Canadian border outside of Buffalo, has a stacked roster under head coach Handel Kipp as the program’s in its third year of operation. The biggest name to know is 6-3 senior forward Cearah Parchment, a four-star forward and Illinois commit; fellow D-I signees include senior guard Maya Foz (Bradley), senior forward Nyadieng Yiech (Florida), senior forward Mildred Dibua (East Carolina), senior guard Keyarah Gregory (Fairfield), and they have a 6-8 junior in Favour Sampson as well. Friends’ Central counters with a lot of size and skill in 6-4 senior Logyn Greer (Colorado), 6-2 sophomore Zya Small, 6-1 freshman Faith Watson and 6-1 senior Kaiya Rain Tucker (Siena), with the backcourt led by senior guards Nal’la Bennett (Stony Brook), Saniyah Washington, Jordyn Adderly (Coppin State) and some impressive underclassmen.

Westtown School vs. Virginia Beach Catholic (Va.) (12:25 PM, Ct. 1)

If you’ve been paying any attention to our coverage the last few years, you know just how good the Westtown girls are. And this might just be Fran Burbidge’s best team yet, as stud sophomores Jordyn Palmer and Jessie Moses get better and better, and the supporting cast is as deep and talented as ever. The frontcourt of 6-3 Boston College commit Kennedy Hall and 6-1 Villanova pledge Kennedy Henry along with 5-10 junior Atlee Vanesko rounds out Burbidge’s typical starters, though they’ve been without Olivia Rose Jones (Harvard) and Aidan Langley (Towson) due to injury. Catholic has already played a tough schedule including St. John’s (D.C.) as well as Catholic League squads Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll, losing to the pair by a total of nine points. The Crusaders feature James Madison commit Jemma Eleby, a 6-2 forward, and some high-level underclassmen like freshmen Riley Lynch and Lauren Loritts. But this will be possibly their stiffest test of the year. 

Upper Dublin vs. Rutgers Prep (N.J.) (1:30 PM, Ct. 2)

Cardinals coach Morgan Funsten is really challenging his group this month, giving a loaded St. Frances (Md.) a run for its money last weekend with upcoming games against O’Hara and Lansdale Catholic, along with this one against one of NJ’s perennial powerhouses. Mary Klinger won her 700th game at Rutgers Prep last season and her group is 6-1 this year, led by a junior core of Ava LaMonica (5-8), Sophia Georgiades (5-6), Ava Frith (6-1) and Natalia Valdez (5-8) with quality contributions from freshman Hailey Benbow (6-0). Upper Dublin is really young, without a senior on the roster, led by junior point guard and FDU commit Megan Ngo (5-4), junior wing Emilia Coleman (5-11), sophomore wings Bridget DiMartile (5-11) and Tamia Clark (5-8) and freshman guards Ella Morris and Lexi Ngo, all of whom play beyond their years.

Red Bank Catholic (N.J.) vs. Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.) (1:45 PM, Ct. 1)

No local squads here, but this game is too good not to mention. Long Island Lutheran is ranked amongst the top programs in the country, and Red Bank Catholic is the defending NJSIAA Non-Public ‘A’ champion. These two did meet last year, a 77-59 LuHi win in New York, but Red Bank was especially young a year ago. The entire rotation is back for the Caseys, led by 6-0 junior and high-major target Addy Nyemchek, the Liggio sisters — senior Christina and juniors Katie and Tessa — and senior Tessa Carman, a versatile 5-11 Monmouth commit. LuHi’s most notable names are 6-3 junior Savannah Swords, a top-20 prospect in the junior (2026) class, with classmates Olivia Jones (No. 22), Sanai Green (No. 27) and Zaniyah Williams (No. 45) along with sophomore point guard Taylor Brown, a Delaware native who transferred up to the NY powerhouse this offseason. 

Archbishop Carroll vs. Notre Dame (2:50 PM, Ct. 2)

Notre Dame will put its unbeaten record on the line this week, first with a home game against Germantown Academy on Friday before this matchup of two programs whose schools are all of about 10 minutes from one another in Wayne/Radnor. Carroll coach Renie Shields and her counterpart Terry Mancini both have the ability to go to their bench with quality, but they each have a few stars to rely on as well. For Notre Dame, that’s sophomores Riley Davis (5-10) and Grace Nasr (6-3); for Carroll, it’s junior Alexis Eberz (5-9) and her younger sister, freshman Kayla Eberz (5-11), who’s rapidly establishing herself as a player to watch in the PCL. It’s likely going to be about supporting casts stepping up; from Carroll’s Brooke Olender, Olivia Nardi and Bridget Archbishop or Notre Dame’s Sophie Hall, Alex Gillen, Emma Another or others.

Archbishop Wood vs. Paul VI (Va.) (3:05 PM, Ct. 1)

It took Wood until Dec. 27 to finally play a game within the Philadelphia area, and this will be their first local big-time matchup after starting PCL with Ryan and St. Hubert’s. Mike McDonald’s three big names to know are senior wing Emily Knouse (St. Joe’s), junior wing Colleen Besachio and sophomore guard Ryan Carter, the No. 8 ranked player in the ESPN. McDonald has a deep program around them, including junior guard Sophia Topakas and a host of talented underclassman guards, and he’ll lean on that depth to challenge another national powerhouse.  Paul VI counters with senior wing Riley Hamburger (Providence), senior guard Riley Miller, junior wing Demi Gilliam, junior Sravya Japapati and more.