City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2025-26 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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There’s tangible growth in the Delco Christian girls basketball program. 

That’s apparent through the Knights’ on-court results, the girls matching the boys last season by winning their first Bicentennial Athletic League championship. And it was obvious to the returning core this offseason, when it became clear that a program which consisted of only nine girls total last year was going to grow. 

During offseason workouts, a crop of incoming freshmen joined with the returners to create a group of more than a dozen expected to come out to join the team this year. Though fall sports have kept their attention of late, hallway interactions are full of talks about the hardwood season to come. 

“It gets me so excited because I feel like since last year we did so good, so many more girls were interested in playing,” sophomore guard Mary O’Donnell said. “There’s so many freshmen now and they’re coming up to me like ’we’re so excited to start the season.’”

It’s clear that the Delco Christian girls are set up to be good for the foreseeable future. 

Last year’s 25-5 season, which ended with a loss to Sacred Heart in the District 1 Class 1A championship game and to Lourdes Regional in the PIAA 1A quarterfinals, was accomplished with a pair of freshmen starting in the backcourt in O’Donnell and combo guard Ella Stinger, who were also two of the Knights’ best players. 

The win total was a jump of 15 from the year before, a 10-16 finish that saw the Knights finish in the middle of the pack of the small-school BAL. 

“They got a real taste of success last year, and I think that is really motivating them for this season,” third-year head coach Jake Godino said. “I think we’re going to be more motivated than we were last year. I think they were kind of in shock and didn’t realize how good they were, what they could actually be and what they could actually achieve.”

Stinger, a 5-foot-7 guard, won the Bicentennial MVP award, averaging 16.5 ppg, with 11 games of 20-or-more points, including a season of 32 points. O’Donnell added eight points per contest, while often guarding the opposing team’s best player. 

That dynamic duo becomes a terrific trio this year with addition of freshman Dominique Good, a 5-6 combo guard who plays with the Comets on the Under Armour circuit. A strong ball-handler and scorer, Good will immediately become of the top talents in the BAL along with her backcourt mates, recreating a trio that found plenty of success as middle schoolers a couple years back. 

“It’s really fun to play with her, it’s really fun to play at the quick pace she plays at,” Stinger said. “I think we complement each other really well so it’s just really exciting to share the court with her again after a year of not being able to.”

Godino, who played at Delco Christian and then walked on at Temple following his 2008 graduation, holds a few of the Newtown Squad school’s scoring records, including most points in a game (41) and a half (28), and most 3-pointers in a game (nine). He’s hoping his current cohort knocks him out. 

“I’m hoping that Ella and Dom both beat all of my records,” he said. “I think Ella and Dom and Mary as well have this ability to be the best three guards, boys and girls’ basketball, in the history of our school.”

Also returning from last year’s run are junior forwards Anna Latchford and Audrey Bechtel, who will both give them a presence in the paint, along with senior Talya Thomas and sophomore Rachel Rhoads. They’ll have to replace the production of 2025 graduates Hallie Kees, now on the track and field team at Villanova, and Addie Smith, who became the team’s 3-point specialist last season, knocking down six triples in the BAL championship game, before suffering an arm injury in the postseason.

Godino isn’t worried about being able to do so. Not only does he have depth to work with this year — several other freshmen could challenge for minutes — but he also has a group taking basketball as seriously as any around, big school or small.

“This summer was the first summer that we had every single member of our team playing in the offseason, playing in the summer,” he said. “They’re either on an AAU team or playing in the Narberth girls’ league, and that’s the first time that’s happened in probably over a decade.”

The goals for this season are clear. 

Defending the Bicentennial Athletic League championship, which should see Renaissance Academy as the biggest challenger yet again, comes first. But the Knights want to hoist a district trophy and make a run at Hershey as well, and they’ve got a backcourt that can make that happen at some point in the next few years, if not right away; more talent is expected to join the roster next year in the form of some promising Delco Christian eighth graders. 

“I really want to make it to the state championship, I really want to win districts, I want to win BAL again and go back-to-back with that,” Stinger said, “and I think that’s a reachable goal for us with the people that are coming up.”