City of Basketball Love

By Dan Arkans (@dan arkans)  
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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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Senior guard Kayden Baratta has already accomplished a lot in just three seasons at Phoenixville High School.

She became the 11th player in school history to score 1,000 points, which she accomplished in the PAC playoffs last year.

Her goal of becoming a college athlete became official last month when she committed to continue her career at top academic institution Wesleyan University.

And for this year? You would think she would have an eye on the school record which Ashley MacLelland holds with 1,564 points. 

 “I definitely accomplished what I wanted to with scoring 1,000 points and playing in college,” Baratta said. “The most important thing now is the team’s success as opposed to my success. At the end of the day that’s the most important thing. Whatever I can do to help the team I am going to do.”

Baratta did just commit to Wesleyan last month. It was a nine-month process that ended up in a two-team race between the Cardinals and Trinity University. In the end her official visit to Wesleyan pushed it over the top.

“I just love the campus,” Baratta said. “The distance is good. Four hours is great. The girls were amazing. They were great people plus the academic aspect is great. I met with a woman at the career center and she showed me that they have all these networks. I thought that was really special.” 

What Phoenixville will need out of Baratta this season is quite a bit after the Phantoms lost Emine Ulcay and 5-5 guard Ava Gnias to graduation after the Phantoms went 14-11 and qualified for the District 1-6A and the PAC playoffs.

The Phantoms possess a good mixture of youth and experience led by Baratta. She will also be teamed up with new coach Howard Kelly, who also coached her AAU team this summer –  the 17U Lady Runnin’ Rebels.

In year one Kelly is preaching team-first concepts and the fundamentals.

“He’s so dedicated,” said Baratta of Kelly. “He cares about making us better. I think it will be a really good season. We are really structured. He keeps us very disciplined. We run a lot at practice. We are going to be in great shape. I am excited to see what the season holds.”

Baratta knows she will get everyone’s best shot this season. Kelly expects two or three defenders to be running at her constantly. Working through screens, finding her teammates for easier buckets that will all be in play this season for the talented wing.

“I have to get Kayden to buy into making the team go,” Kelly said. “It’s going to be more of her as a distributor. The scoring will always come back to her. Teams are going to send two or three at her and she understands that. We have to all get on the same page.”

While Baratta is the engine that will make the Phantoms go, she’s not exactly on the court by herself. Five-foot-11 senior center Riley Ford-Bey will man the middle, while the vastly improved 6-1 sophomore forward Charlie Campbell gives Phoenixville plenty of height. 

Five-foot-10 senior guard/forward Taylor Schneider and 5-6 senior guard Julia Chain also saw minutes last season.

“She definitely has a ton of potential," Kelly said of Campbell. "I could see her making some moves in the league. She’s impressed me so far.” 

Kelly believes he has a pretty deep squad which will also get contributions from junior guard Olivia Clark, junior guard Maggie McCoy, junior forward Allyson Turner, junior guard Ava Breisblatt, sophomore forward Tessa Tackett, sophomore guard Patience Ortlip and freshman forward Audrina Gnias.

“There’s not one person that’s more important than another,” Kelly said. “We have to play as a team, be the best teammate and be the best team. It’s all about team basketball. I like to run. I like to play defense. If we can buy into those things we can be successful.”

Phoenixville will have to come together rather quickly in the always competitive PAC Liberty. State champs Perk Valley will look different this year, as will Spring-Ford. Methacton is always competitive and the Phantoms believe they are right there in the mix.

“It’s definitely an open year,” Baratta said. “Everyone is good. Any game is win or lose with Perk Valley graduating everyone. It creates a lot of opportunities within the league. I truly believe in our team. Methacton is good, Spring-Ford is good,  all those schools are good, I really think it’s an open year.”

To qualify for the PAC playoffs and possibly even win the Liberty title will take a quick learning curve for this group. Coming together in less than a month after several multi-sport athletes competing in the fall won’t be an easy task.

“With Kayden’s leadership and some of the other girls I think we can accomplish getting to the PAC playoffs,” Kelly said. “I’d like to be right there in the championship game. As far as coming together I am still in an evaluation process. I think they have bought into this as a team. If we buy into it we can compete and get better every day. I believe they understand where I am coming from. I only want the best for them. We are excited to get started and looking forward to a successful season.”

Phoenixville will open the season Nov. 22nd at Unionville before facing Great Valley and Downingtown East in a challenging start to the year. Kelly and Baratta both believe this is a team that will only get better each day and peak come playoff time.

“I definitely think staying together as a team is key,” Baratta said. “With a new coach everything is new to us. We have to be super dedicated. We are not going to win every game we play. We are all really close off the court. I think that will help us a lot.”