City of Basketball Love

By Tom Robinson
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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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The fall sports season has shown Jimmy Dillon that he will have many athletic girls with which to work in his first season as head basketball coach at Archbishop Ryan.

Their success in other sporting endeavors may also mean that Dillon has to be a little more patient in blending them into a new system this winter.

The Ragdolls will be a combination of experienced players from a team that faced some struggles a year ago, transfers who could make a difference and a promising infusion of freshmen.

In all three cases, some of those athletes have been quite busy elsewhere this fall, meaning that Archbishop Ryan’s eventual lineup has spent much less time together in the offseason than many of the teams it will face.

“My joke with everybody is I’m bringing these kids in to try to help me win basketball games and build a basketball program, but I’ve got all-Catholic athletes in all these other sports,” Dillon said.

Juniors Breelyn Gavaghan, one of three returning starters, and Mackenzie Rogers, one of two transfers from Archbishop Wood, were recently named second-team all-Catholic League in soccer.

Freshmen Aubrey Dillon, the coach’s daughter, and Olivia Izzi, were first- and second-team choices in volleyball.

“It’s good that there’s a little bit of buzz going about the program and the kids are seeing success in other sports at the school,” Jimmy Dillon said. “Hopefully, it will all come together and we’ll have that same kind of success and camaraderie in basketball.”

The good news is the running and jumping that they have excelled in on the soccer field and volleyball court should translate well into the style of play Dillon pictures for his team.

Expect Archbishop Ryan to be off and running as much as possible.

“I know the shot clock is not coming until 2028,” Dillon said, “but we’re going to be very prepared for the shot clock because our goal this year is to get shots up every 10 or 15 seconds.”

Gavaghan, a junior, is a small forward/guard, although as Dillon says, the team will play a lot of “positionless basketball.”

Senior Amiaya Thurmond and junior Jules Croumbley are the other returning starters. Croumbley and Thurmond are both 5-foot-4, although Thurmond is listed on the roster as a forward.

Regan Przepioski is the other transfer from Archbishop Wood. The 5-10 junior brings needed size and strength to the program. She was a force in the middle when the team got together for the fourth annual CoBL Fall Classic at Spring-Ford in late September.

Two seniors are among the group of fall athletes.

Brenna Speak, the captain of a playoff volleyball team, has some varsity basketball experience.

Kylee Martin, a field hockey player, will be counted on for leadership and being a role model for the many young players in the program.

Junior Amber Rothley gained a little experience coming off the bench last season.

“She’s one of our faster players and one of our girls who really buys into getting up and down and applying pressure,” coach Dillon said. “I can see Amber making her way into the rotation this year.”

Aubrey Dillon, Izzi and Emma Mayer have all played for Jimmy Dillon the past four years with Our Lady of Calvary and the Bustleton Bengals, winning multiple CYO and club titles up the state level.

With four volleyball players, three soccer players and a field hockey player often away, 5-9 freshman Alyssa Roebuck has taken advantage of Dillon’s availability for some personal coaching in the fall to try to further develop her game.

From that group, Dillon will try to find the combination to turn around a program that is on its fourth head coach in four years and has managed just seven Philadelphia Catholic League wins in the past three seasons. The Ragdolls were 2-9 in the PCL and 3-18 overall last season.

“There’s a big difference between coaching at a school and building a program at a school,” he said. “I’m doing the latter. I’m trying to open up as many lines of communication as possible with the kids that are there to try to figure out what worked and what didn’t work.”

Dillon acknowledges that “nothing’s going to happen overnight” as the team works through any turmoil created by the frequent coaching turnover.

“We have to play as hard as we need to play,” he said. “It’s hard for me to put my finger on that number-one thing that we have to change, but ultimately I have to get them believing in themselves, and that I have a clue about what I’m doing.”