City of Basketball Love

By CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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The 2025 edition of the Blue Star High School Invitational took place this Sunday at Jefferson University’s Gallagher Athletic Center, with 24 high-level teams from all over the Northeast coming to play on two courts all day long in front of fans, parents, and college coaches.

Here’s Part 2 of a recruiting notebook featuring prospects we interviewed over the course of the day; CLICK HERE for Part 1:

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Alexis Eberz (2026 | Archbishop Carroll)

The Eberz family is no stranger to elite basketball.

Alexis Eberz, a 5-foot-8 guard at Archbishop Carroll, plays alongside her sisters Kelsey and Kayla with the guidance of her parents Eric Eberz and Michele Eberz.

The oldest Eberz sibling has offers from a multitude of schools, but recently received an offer from Villanova - the same school that both of her parents played at back in the 90s.

Her father Eric Eberz played at Nova from 1992 to 1996, starting in 63 of his 65 games as an upperclassman. He averaged 11.6 points in his career as a Wildcat and was named to the 1994-1995 All-Big East team. Post graduation, Eberz played professionally overseas in Europe and Asia for 8 years.

Michele (Thornton) Eberz, Alexis’s mother, suited up for the Wildcats from ‘91 to ‘95 and averaged 11.3 points in her career. She was named to the Big East All-Freshman team in 1991 and was also named to the ‘94-’95 All-Big East team.

Due to Alexis’s pedigree with Villanova basketball, it comes as no surprise that the Wildcats are one of her top collegiate choices.

“Villanova’s always been a dream school,” she said. “It’s going to be a really hard decision.”

Eberz additionally has offers from 18 other programs, but is closely eyeing Marquette, St. Joe’s, Fairfield, Buffalo, Drexel, Harvard, and Princeton, along with Villanova. She has unofficially visited most of these schools, but plans to officially visit between her high school and AAU seasons, where she plays on the Under Armour circuit with Comets Basketball.

Eberz knows what is most important in her future university:

“Somewhere that I will play, fit in; that feels like home,” Eberz said. “Great coaching staff, players, and a great community.”

Despite the family connection to Nova, Eberz is fairly evaluating each and every school that she has interest in.

While her college commitment is coming up, the current high school season is Eberz’s focus. She has moved into a new role as the primary ball-handler that was previously held by Brooke Wilson, who is now a freshman at West Point. Eberz is also one of the most experienced players on Carroll and has taken on a position as a leader. She is playing for her sister Kelsey, who went down with a knee injury earlier this year.

So far this season, the three-year varsity starter is averaging a team-high 15.3 points as well as snatching 5.4 boards per game according to the team’s MaxPreps page.

Eberz isn’t quite sure when she will make her commitment, but knows that it likely will be after her summer of hoops.

“If something does pop up, [my commitment] might be before AAU, but I think it might stay until after AAU…see if I can get anything else,” she said. — Evan Hartenstein

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Zya Small (2027 | Friends Central)

For Zya Small, it is not new to have all eyes on her. Even as a sophomore in high school. 

The 6-foot-2 point-forward has been in the basketball spotlight since eighth grade, when she was offered a scholarship to play basketball at Boston College. 

So, it is not a surprise that the sophomore from Friends Central continues gaining attention through basketball. In December, she received four additional college basketball offers from Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Rutgers. 

At this point, Small has lost count of the number of scholarships she has received.

“I was working really hard, and I really did not expect it [Boston College offer], and that just wanted me to get better and get more offers,” Small said. 

She is. Two years later after her first scholarship, several other schools are reaching out and hoping to lure the forward to their university.

It is easy to see why colleges are excited about recruiting Small and the possibility of implementing her skillset into their system. She is tall, physical, can handle the ball well, and can consistently push tempo. After a scoreless first quarter against Fort Erie International Academy (Can), she finished with 11 points in a 49-41 loss. 

Small takes pride in being able to score around and under the basket with ease. While her stature would traditionally make it hard to run an offense, Small noted she loves to run the fast break, often doing so against Fort Erie.

While she uses her size to her advantage especially in terms of protecting the basket and grabbing rebounds, Small does not play or want to be viewed as a “traditional” forward. Small said she wants a college program that “plays fast and a team that does not always have their bigs underneath the basket.” 

Small has already experienced a recruitment process. She is midway through her first season on the main line. During her freshman season, Small played at Scranton High School, where she dominated, averaging 18 points, and just under nine rebounds per contest. Small also used her long frame to her advantage, forcing more than three steals per game as well as blocking 2.1 shots per game. 

Her play earned her Times-Tribune All-Region. Player of the Year and Class 5A all-state player. Her game was also noticed by Friends Central head coach Vinny Simpson through AAU ball. 

What puts Small’s basketball career into perspective? She has been through a high school recruitment process after several universities offered her scholarship spots for the class of 2027. 

Small transferred to the friend’s school in Wynnewood to compete at a higher level. 

“I knew Coach Vinny could help me get better, and in my recruiting process also,” Small said. “When I came here, I started getting recruited more and received more offers, so I think it was the best decision for me.”

Small also holds offers from Arizona, Clemson, Colorado, and Temple, among others.

Simpson’s team includes Logyn Greer (Colorado commit), Jordyn Adderly (Coppin State), Nal’La Bennett (Stony Brook), Kaiya Rain Tucker (Siena), and Saniyah Washington, who has received an offer from D-II Mansfield. According to Small, it helps and makes it easier to contribute when she has so many teammates who can make a play as well. 

While it may seem as though Small is ahead of the curve and expressed her desire to get better. Even though she is able to handle the basketball and run full court offense as a forward, she also wants to improve running the two and three, ball handling in general and shooting. 

Small knows how interested schools are in getting her to commit to their program. She has close to a dozen offers. While she is not even at the halfway point of her high school career, Small is firm in what she is looking for in a university from a basketball and social standpoint.  

“I’m just looking for a school that will treat me as family because obviously I am going to be away from home,” Small said. “I want a school that will help me get better and become a better person in addition to strong academics.” — Jeremy Goode

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Zaniyah Washington (2026 | Long Island Lutheran)

Washington’s in her first year at LuHi, the Virginia native having spent her first two years of high school in her home state before transferring to the New York powerhouse program over the summer. 

Her first Division I offer came from Hampton University when she was a seventh grader; by now, she’s got “almost 40 offers,” she said, though it won’t be that way for long. Washington said she’s planning on cutting her list down to 10 in the next month or two, though she wasn’t giving away any hints about who might be in that mix. 

The 5-foot-7 guard, who plays for the West Virginia Thunder on the Under Armour circuit, did acknowledge that her offers come from across the country, from multiple high-major conferences. 

“It’s honestly truly a blessing,” she said. “I don’t take (anything) for granted. I really just appreciate all the schools that believe in me and are recruiting me, stuff like that.”

Washington impressed for LuHi during a win over Red Bank Catholic (N.J.) on Sunday, compiling a 13-point, 10-assist double-double that equally showed her ability to play on the ball and off it. 

She said that because of her boarding in New York while her family still lives in Virginia, she hasn’t gotten a chance to see too many of the schools that have offered her just yet. She expects that to change next offseason, with a commitment coming at some point during the summer.

“I have to fit in (their) system, style of play, relationships,” she said. “If the players seem happy there, coaches seem like they love the kids, and it’s a family-type [environment].” — Josh Verlin

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Molly Rullo (2025 | Cardinal O’Hara)

Rullo’s college destination has been known for over a year, the 5-foot-11 wing committing to Drexel back in November 2023. 

This segment isn’t about that — it’s about her and her coach. 

Rullo recently surpassed O’Hara boss Chrissie Doogan (1,446 points) for second on the program’s all-time scoring list, putting her only behind the legendary Kristin ‘Ace’ Clement in Lions’ history. 

“It’s a great individual accomplishment,” Rullo said, “especially with all the history and good players who have come through the program. I think it’s just more of an honor to have my name up there with all of them.”

Her 20 points on Sunday in a win over Ursuline pushed her close to 1,500 for her career. But Rullo won’t catch Clement, who finished with 2,256 points, more than anybody else in Delaware County history, before going off to Tennessee in 1997.

Rullo did get a chance to videochat with the former Volunteer point guard, their first time connecting. 

“She was really nice, she took the time to FaceTime us,” Rullo said. “That was really cool. She just congratulated me.”

Rullo said she hadn’t been too focused on catching her coach, more worried about wins and how her team is playing than individual accolades. Her coach said there wasn’t even any teasing coming her direction, having been finally bested by one of her players. 

“Not at all,” Doogan said, adding with a laugh: “She knows I control her playing time, so she’s smarter than that.” — Josh Verlin

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