City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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It’s PAISAA time. 

The Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association’s boys and girls’ state tournament brackets are out, with 16 boys teams and 13 girls’ teams in the hunt for the state championship tournament trophy amongst the state’s non-PIAA affiliated programs. 

The boys’ side is arguably the most talent-filled its ever been: Westtown School, with its four Division I committed seniors, is the ninth seed; there are games like Academy New Church/Phelps School in the first round. Defending champion Perkiomen School is still the top seed, first-year head coach Harry Morra with another talented group led by seniors K.J. Cochran, Gabe Tanner and much more. 

Penn Charter, the Inter-Ac champs, are the No. 2 seed, with its high-major trio of Matt Gilhool, Kai Shinsholster and Jake West; SCH Academy, Haverford School and Malvern Prep are all top-eight seeds, showing the strength of the Inter-Act this year as well. And some of the lower seeds are really strong, like No. 11 Cristo Rey, which features one of the area’s best scoring wings in Devin Booker as part of an experienced group. There will be great games there throughout all four rounds. 

On the girls’ side, Westtown is the three-time defending state champions and the favorite to repeat after beating No. 2 seed Friends’ Central by 31 in the Friends’ Schools League championship. The core trio of sophomores Jordyn Palmer and Jessie Moses and junior Atlee Vanesko keep them amongst the top teams nationally even as they deal with a variety of injuries; getting senior Olivia Jones (Harvard) back on the court is a big boost, and senior Vianna Kanyamiheto-Watson has been giving them quality minutes all year long.

The Phoenix, who were the runners-up in last year’s PAISAA championship, have their strongest roster ever. There’s four Division I commits in seniors Logyn Greer (Colorado), Jordyn Adderly (Coppin State), Kaiya Rain Tucker (Siena) and Nal’la Bennett (Stony Brook), plus senior and D-II recruit Saniyah Washington, sophomore Zya Small, a five-star wing forward, and impressive freshman post Faith Watson, among others.

Several other area programs have hopes of making a run to the championship. Inter-Ac champs Notre Dame have a deep group led by seniors Catie Kelly and Sophia Hall, with sophomores Grace Nasr and Riley Davis in starring roles, and junior guard Emma Anthony (among others) giving them a scoring presence off the bench. Germantown Academy has a quality pair of seniors in Jess Kolecki and Gabby Bowes with a strong supporting cast; Shipley School has some impressive young talent but is likely a year away from being a significant contender.

The PAISAA tournament doesn’t have set bracket dates, so the first round and quarterfinals are ‘play by’ dates, with the schools needing to make their own plans for matchups. We’ll update this bracket and our high school schedule pages with those details as they become available. 

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Tournament Dates
First Round: Played by Friday, Feb. 21
Quarterfinals: Played by Tues., Feb. 25
Semifinals: Friday., Feb. 28 (at higher seed)
Championship Sunday, March 2 (venue TBD)

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Girls’ Bracket
1) Westtown School vs. BYE
8) Penn Charter vs. 9) George School (Feb. 21, 5:00 PM)

4) Germantown Academy vs. BYE
5) Shipley School vs. Agnes Irwin/Hill School
Play-In: 12) Agnes Irwin vs. 13) Hill School (played by Tues., Feb. 18)

6) Perkiomen School vs. 11) Germantown Friends (Feb. 21, 5:00 PM)
3) Notre Dame vs. BYE

7) Mercersburg Academy vs. 10) Episcopal Academy
2) Friends’ Central vs. BYE

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Boys’ Bracket

1) Perkiomen School vs. 16) Abington Friends (Feb. 20, 5:00 PM)
8) Malvern Prep vs. 9) Westtown School (Feb. 19, 7:00 PM)

4) Springside-Chestnut Hill vs. 13) Friends’ Central (Feb. 20, 5:00 PM)
5) Academy New Church vs. 12) Phelps School (Feb. 20, 5:00 PM)

3) Hill School vs. 14) Episcopal Academy (Feb. 19, 5:30 PM)
6) Haverford School vs. 11) Cristo Rey (Feb. 20, 4:30 PM)

2) Penn Charter vs. 15) Germantown Academy (Feb. 21, 7:00 PM)
7) George School vs. 10) Friends’ Select (Feb. 20, 5:30 PM)

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