City of Basketball Love

By CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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The 2025 edition of the Philly Girls’ High School live event was a major step forward over last year’s inaugural edition, with more than 40 high school teams — including several dozen featuring at least one Division I prospect — making their way to Jefferson University from Thursday through Saturday for three days of high-level hoops in front of college coaches of all levels.

CoBL had numerous reporters checking in over the course of the event, watching as many of the games as we could. Here’s the second of two notebooks from the event focused on area teams and their progress this offseason:

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Philly HS Girls Live Coverage
Standouts (A-L) | Standouts (M-Z)
Recruiting Notebook Pt. 1 | Pt 2. | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4
Team Coverage Pt. 1 | Pt. 2

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Pennsbury

The youth shift is in full effect at Pennsbury.

Down 16-3 in the waning minutes of the first half, the Pennsbury girls fought all the way back to steal a 35-34 victory against York Suburban on Friday night. 

Coach Frank Sciolla said how much games like these mean to the program, specifically the underclassmen.

“You want an opportunity for girls to play, to see college coaches are here,” Sciolla said. “Most of our team is younger, so they’re really not playing in those types of games on big courts at the big club tournaments.”

Sciolla is going to have to rely on his youth this upcoming season, with Pennsbury’s lineup consisting of just one senior returner in Emily Panaro. 

The rising sophomore class will have to step up, with All-SOL Patriot Second Team selection Alyssa Thomas leading the pack. Grace Schaufler and Bella Stewart will have to control the post in the upcoming season after the departure of Maggie Burns, while Sammie Haws -- who hit the game-winning shot against York Suburban -- and Keira Socha will need to handle the backcourt. 

Socha, who received a bigger role this past season due to the absence of rising junior Joley Hohman, has taken full advantage of her opportunity. In the York Suburban game, Socha knocked down three 3’s in her 15 point performance.

“These kids who have gotten opportunities, especially with Joley not being back yet, have been able to step up,” Sciolla said.

Hohman, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL, will be a major returner for the Falcons once she returns this year, joining Haws as some of the more talented guards in the SOL Patriot. Sciolla highlighted communication as something that she will have to lead the way with due to the amount of underclassmen.    

“Maggie Burns did that a lot for us last year,” Sciolla said in reference to who led by example in communication. “It’s going to have to be Alyssa [...] when Joley comes back she is going to be the person who does that, too.”

This Lady Falcons squad is hungry after falling just short of an SOL Patriot title, and will look to win their fourth league title in the past six years. — Evan Hartenstein

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Archbishop Wood

Mike McDonald didn’t dodge any punches this weekend. 

Though Archbishop Wood’s going to be a much different team this fall, with a number of graduations and other departures, the Viking head coach still scheduled up during the June live period. In two games Thursday in New Jersey, Wood lost close games to Garden State powerhouses Morris Catholic and Rutgers Prep. Friday saw them fall short against Paul VI (N.J.) in their first game before running headfirst into the wall that was St. John’s College (D.C.), a loaded group which overcame a slow start to run away for a big win. 

“Yesterday it went okay, we competed with two of the best programs in the country, and today one of the best programs in the country wiped us off the floor,” McDonald quipped afterwards, but he was in a good mood given the level of competition his group had faced: “I wanted them to see what they had to work on and what they can and cannot do against certain levels of athleticism, certain levels of competition.”

The Vikings squad which fell just short of a fifth consecutive PIAA state championship in March has already changed quite a bit. Emily Knouse is ready to start her career at St. Joe’s, but she wasn’t the only face absent on Friday; a number of the program’s deep group of rising juniors are transferring out, including standout recruit Ryan Carter, who hasn’t yet announced her landing spot. 

That left McDonald working with a group of 2027s and 2028s — along with 2026 Emma Yogis — for the weekend, with quite a few of his girls getting their first significant varsity action against some real high-level talent. And there were certainly good flashes, especially in the game against PVI; rising juniors Sophia McDonald, Makayla Finnegan and Emma Seckinger provided a majority of the scoring while rising sophomores Zoey Whalen, Casey Thompson, and Abbie Kelly all look like they’ll be playing significant varsity roles this winter, with bright futures ahead.  

That lack of experience, however, is going to lead to some rough stretches mixed in with good ones, with six months to go until the season gets underway and Wood girls very much at the beginning of their offseason as a team. That’s not always so easy for McDonald to remember, given the high standard he has for the program. 

“During the games I can’t really turn it off,” he said. “I expect a lot of them, and I think they expect a lot of themselves. When they’re not doing as well as they can be, I think it’s my job to hold them accountable and demand more of them.

“After the game, I remind myself and them that we’re young, we’re going to figure it out, we have to figure it out and have to keep working at it to get better.” — Josh Verlin

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Springfield (Delco.)

The Springfield (Delco.) girls basketball team was missing a few pieces from its projected 2025-26 rotation over the weekend as the Cougars’ girls lacrosse team won the state championship on Saturday at Penn State.

It gave a chance for some talented youngsters to show off their skills. 

Senior Lil DiTrolio led the way with 23 points in a win over Renaissance Academy on Friday, but sophomores Adi DiTrolio, Delaney Kearney (10 points) and Abbie McFarland and freshmen Abby MacElroy and Alice Murphy all had their moments as well.

“All the freshmen are pretty new,” Lil DiTrolio said. “We’ve only had like one open gym, but it was pretty good. The freshmen did pretty good.”

Lil DiTrolio, a second team All-Central League honoree last season, will be one of the league’s top returners this season. The 5-5 guard, who also plays soccer, isn’t playing AAU this summer, leaning towards this winter being her last on the hardwood.

She has good control of the game and can shoot the rock (7 threes on Friday), still looking to improve her shooting and dribbling before the season begins.

“We just have to play a lot before the season in the summer and fall and stuff,” DiTrolio said. “For me, I have to keep practicing even though I’m not playing AAU.”

The Cougars are just two years removed from a state playoff trip.

After a 9-13 (6-10 Central League) season in 2023-24 and a 12-11 (8-8) campaign in 2024-25 that ended in a first-round exit in the league playoffs and finishing as the last team out of the District 1 6A tournament, the goal is to end her high school career with a deeper postseason run.

Springfield graduated two seniors, but the Cougars should have five on the squad this season, including DiTrolio, to help bring along the young group.

“I’m looking forward to this season,” she added “It’s kind of far away, but preparing and putting in the work will hopefully help and get us further than last year.” — Owen McCue