City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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BENSALEM >> It’s become a running bit between Bensalem coach Steve Johnson and senior Talia DiMichele.

Johnson labeled the guard as a “Swiss Army Knife” in a league write-up earlier in the season, which DiMichele chalked up as another one of her coach’s random and obscure references that led to a humorous back-and-forth between them. There is a little bit of validity to the label however, especially when DiMichele is playing like she did Saturday afternoon against Unionville.

DiMichele was the catalyst as the Owls picked up a helpful 58-45 nonleague win over the visiting Longhorns.

“I was focused on stepping into my role fully,” DiMichele said. “I’m taking everything in for my last year, you can’t come back to high school so I’m soaking everything in.”

Victorinox, the company that manufactures the Swiss Army Knife, describes it’s most famous product as an “iconic symbol of versatility and resilience.” DiMichele, a four-year varsity player at Bensalem who also played for Johnson in AAU with Rebels Basketball Academy, fits that bill.

The 5-foot-5 guard is usually first or second in scoring for the Owls, she’s one of their top passers and the head of their defense. DiMichele, a team captain, finished Saturday’s outing with 17 points, eight assists, five steals and two rebounds for good measure.

“I called her the Swiss Army Knife because she does a little bit of everything,” Johnson said. “She’s undersized, she’s playing girls that are bigger than her but she’s not afraid to step in to take a charge. She’ll set everybody up, she’ll run our offense, she’ll be aggressive when she has to but she’ll also swing the ball around when she knows Devon (Bell) or Grace (McShane) are on fire, so she has a well-rounded game and she anchors our defense because she’s a smart player and communicates well.”

Coming off a sluggish outing Friday night against Pennsbury, DiMichele wanted to give the Owls an early spark. The senior did that pretty emphatically by burying a three off an assist from Grace McShane to open the scoring and by the end of the opening eight minutes of play, she’d already chalked up eight points, four assists and three steals as Bensalem led 25-9.

“As a senior, it’s my last year, you have to be a leader,” DiMichele said. “We have a lot of young girls so I’m always making sure I’m a good role model for them and showing them what they can do next year.”

Bensalem made 21 shots in Saturday’s win and assisted on 16 of them. It was the type of performance the Owls need to have to be at their best this season and it certainly didn’t hurt that a majority of those assists were coming between their top three scorers in DiMichele, McShane and senior Devon Bell.

McShane, a junior having a really good year of her own, tied with DiMichele for the team lead with 17 points, adding four assists and three steals. Bell, who is committed to Alvernia to play soccer, was right behind with 14 points that included four made three-pointers plus three assists of her own.

Last season, Bensalem had a definitive go-to player in Amber Johnson, who is now a freshman at North Carolina A&T. This year, they’re spreading the scoring around and relying on more contributors including sophomore Sydney Daut, senior Ariana Jenkins and junior Mary Beck.

“We can all yell at each other or get each other in the right headspace because we back each other up,” DiMichele said. “No matter who’s having a good game, we all know we’re supporting each other.”

Being a willing passer comes easily for DiMichele, after all, it’s her primary responsibility in her other sport. The senior also played as a setter in volleyball, serving as a team captain this fall while playing under the tutelage of her older sister Violet, the Owls’ head coach.

A setter touches the ball on almost every possession and as a result, almost never subs off the floor in rotation so they have to be able to defend, serve and cover the whole court. DiMichele said there’s plenty of crossover, including having a coach who knows her very well.

“It’s not something a lot of people get to experience,” DiMichele said. “It’s special having that kind of relationship with your sister while also having to talk to her as your coach.”

Unionville, which lost standout Elle Johnson for the season in its first game and has also been without senior Bethany Bowden - an athletic 6-foot-2 presence heading to La Salle to play goalkeeper in soccer out with an injury - came into Saturday’s game at 12-5 and No. 3 in District 1 Class 5A. While they fell behind early, the Longhorns kept the pressure up and were able to outscore Bensalem in the third quarter while slicing the deficit to under 10 points with eight minutes left. Senior Shannon Megill, an Ursinus recruit, put in a strong effort with 21 points and junior Allie D’Angelo added 12 points and seven rebounds for the Ches-Mont side.

It just seemed like every time Unionville started to make inroads, DiMichele was there to turn the Longhorns back. When the visitors went on a run late in the second quarter, DiMichele found Bell for a three in the final seconds to quiet it then she started the fourth quarter by nailing a triple that pushed the lead back to 11.

“She’s gotten better every single year,” Johnson said. “She’s always been a good player skill set-wise but now it’s matched emotionally. She doesn’t check herself out of games like she may have done her freshman or sophomore year, she may shoot well one game and not too well in another but she’s always on to the next play.”

DiMichele plans to play in college and she’s got four pretty solid suitors at the Division III level in Rowan, Bryn Athyn, Gwynedd Mercy and Ursinus. The youngest of four sisters, DiMichele said her main focus in recruiting was location and academic fit with a specific area of study in mind.

“I’m looking to pursue radiology and not many offer that,” DiMichele said. “It’s also important to me to stay local, I want my family to be able to come out and support me.” 

Before that, DiMichele wants to help Bensalem get back to the postseason. Last year, the Owls made their first playoff appearance under Johnson and qualified for the SOL playoffs to boot.

A league playoff bid is likely out this year, but Bensalem was right on the Class 6A district bubble Saturday morning in the No. 23 spot, so there’s three games left to make their case.

“We’ve had some close games in our division, we’ve had some close games out of conference, so it’s all about stacking positive days together,” Johnson said. “From there, we’ll see what happens.”

BENSALEM 25 | 18 | 11 | 14 || 58

UNIONVILLE 9 | 11 | 16 | 9 || 45

B: Talia DiMichele 17, Grace McShane 17, Devon Bell 14, Mary Beck 6, Sydney Daurt 2, Ariana Jenkins 2

U: Shannon Megill 21, Allie D’Angelo 12, Isabella Della Barba 8, Jenna Bowman 2, Elise Kucharzuk 2