City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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HUNTINGDON VALLEY — Before Dani Brusha got her first tattoo, she got some important advice from her mom.

The Lower Moreland senior and a couple of her AAU teammates with the Penn Fever had grown attached to the mantra Mudita, a Buddist and East Asian concept that’s about finding joy in the success of others. She had planned to get it on her back, but Diane Brusha had a better idea. 

“(She) was like, you’ve got to get it on your wrist,” Dani said, “so you can see it and be reminded.”

So Mudita is now inscribed on the 5-foot-4 guard’s left wrist, in a spot where she can always glance at it as a reminder of what’s important, and where to find happiness. Brusha didn’t need a ton of Mudita on Friday afternoon, however, as she — as well as her teammates — provided plenty of reasons to feel happy in a Suburban One League inter-divisional matchup with Plymouth Whitemarsh.

After a few bumps and bruises in December provided a few setbacks for Lower Moreland, the Lions are starting to put it together. A 53-48 home win over the Colonials was the program’s fourth in a row, the Lions moving above .500 with what 20th-year head coach Rich Becker called “the best [game] we’ve played” thus far. 

It all starts with Brusha for Lower Moreland (7-6, 3-2 Suburban One Freedom), the Holy Family commit the team’s primary scorer and ball-handler, as well as its best defender. She was all of that and more against Plymouth Whitemarsh, finishing with 19 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals, knocking down 3-pointers — four of them — and attacking the rim with equal aplomb. 

“She’s phenomenal,” Becker said. “She’s everything. She really is. She’s a leader in every sense of the word. It’s been a blessing to get her coming into our program. She leads by example, she’s vocal, and you can see out there, she never comes off the floor.”

It hasn’t been the easiest path for Brusha to get to where she is. Before her sophomore year at Lower Moreland, after transferring in from Abington, she tore her ACL, sidelining her that entire season and into the following summer. She returned to play in some of the 2023 offseason, but said it wasn’t until the end of her junior year at Lower Moreland, she said, that she started to feel comfortable again. 

Both player and coach noted that as soon as her brace came off later in the 2024 offseason, Brusha was back.

“I hated it. I hated it so much,” she said. “I felt like it kind of restrained me a little bit physically. (Taking it off) was a little nerve-wracking at first, but after the first game, I really felt comfortable.”

They weren’t the only ones who noticed. Holy Family head coach Bernadette Laukaitis started recruiting Brusha midway through the summer, Brusha picking the Northeast Philly D-II program over D-III Susquehanna in October. 

For a girl who’d wanted to play college basketball at the Division II level but worried her injury might have taken that opportunity away from her, getting recruited to play for the Tigers was a dream come true. 

“I didn’t really know what level I was going to be able to play at,” she said, “but then Holy Family showed their interest and I loved it there.  I loved the coaches, I loved all the girls, so I was like, this is my place.”

While Lower Moreland’s been picking up steam of late, Holy Family’s been strong all year. The Tigers, currently ranked in the top 25 in the NCAA D-II CSC poll, beat No. 5 Seton Hill just before New Year’s and recently scored their most points in regulation in a dozen years in a 95-69 win over city rival Chestnut Hill. 

Brusha said she hasn’t been able to get to a game yet, but plans on attending one soon with AAU teammate and fellow Holy Family commit Ella Brown (Pennridge). 

“It’s really exciting, I’m really excited to go there and it shows how competitive they are, and I’m a competitor, so I can’t wait to go and compete with them.”

Brusha and the Lions are feeling good about where they’re at just past the midway point of the season, Friday’s win helping them put a spate of injuries and a four-game losing streak further in the rearview mirror. 

During the course of December, four different Lower Moreland starters went down with various dings, with sophomore Mollie Martin (knee) out of the remainder of the season; senior Brianna McFerran, junior Maddy Rossiter and sophomore Emma DiJoseph all missed games as well. The first game the latter three were back was on Jan. 3 against William Tennent, a 55-49 road overtime victory after a 10-day layoff; they then beat Upper Moreland (51-49) and Renaissance Charter (61-33) at home before the win over Plymouth Whitemarsh. 

The Colonials (8-4, 2-2 SOL Liberty) controlled the first quarter, leading 17-12 after eight minutes. But the Lions dominated the next eight, getting a pair of 3-pointers from sophomore Maddie Broderick (11 points) off the bench, a couple buckets from Brusha and a couple from McFerran to take a 30-20 lead into the half after an 18-3 second quarter. 

Lower Moreland stayed in control all throughout the third and into the fourth, getting seven third-quarter points from senior Nikki Sahl and a couple third-quarter Brusha threes. PW junior AJ Avery did her best to bring PW back in the fourth, hitting a pair of 3-pointers to cap off a 19-point day, but the gap was too wide. 

While Broderick was the only one to join Brusha in double figures, McFerran's rebounding effort (12 boards) was notable, the 5-11 senior and tallest member of the Lions going to work on the glass.

The Lions have three more non-league games — Villa Joseph Marie and Souderton next Monday and Tuesday, then at Council Rock South next Friday — before a visit from Cheltenham on Jan. 21 starts the back half of the league slate. Cheltenham (5-0) and New Hope-Solebury (4-1) are both ahead of Lower Moreland in the standings, both having beaten the Lions in December; they’ll need to sweep the last five and hope for something to break in their favor if they want to reach the SOL postseason or finish atop the Freedom standings. 

Even if they don’t make the league playoffs, Lower Moreland is currently in a good spot for districts,  No. 7 in the unofficial District 1 5A rankings, the top 12 making it to the postseason. There’s still nine games left in the regular season, the Lions needing to win a solid few of them to lock in a postseason berth, and know that beating PW was quite helpful in that regard.

“If Cheltenham could lose, that would be hopeful,” Brusha said with a laugh, “so we can compete with them, hopefully beat them and then get a shot at (a Freedom title). If not, we’re trying to get a shot at districts. This is a big one for us, for districts, helping our seeding.”

By Quarter
LM:  12  |  18  |  16  |   7   ||  53
PW: 17  |   3   |  13  |  15  ||  48

Shooting
LM: 19-48 FG (10-20 3PT), 5-9 FT
PW: 18-52 FG (7-28 3PT), 5-10 FT

Scoring
LM: Dani Brusha 19, Maddie Broderick 11, Nikki Sahl 7, Emma DiJoseph 7, Brianna McFerran 5, Maddy Rossiter 4

PW: AJ Avery 19, Eliza Meersman 10, Taylor Williams 6, McKenna Winland 5, Grace Harvey 5, Olivia Patete 3