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 Haverford girls team will lean heavily on a player who broke in immediately on the varsity level and another who has put in her time building up for this season.

Grace Maloney, a 5-foot-3 sophomore point guard, is the only returning starter, but senior center Maura Gilroy is the team’s most experienced player overall.

“Maura’s gotten better with every year that we’ve had her,” Fords coach Lauren Pellicane said. “ … She’s in a situation where she has played with a really good amount of talent that we’ve had the last four or five years, Rian and Caroline Dotsey, who are at St. Joe’s and Butler respectively, and others. In a way, she has had to put her time in, but she is our most experienced player returning. 

“She’s going to be a leader for us. We’ve lost a lot over the last two years. We started four seniors and a freshman last season.”

The graduation of four seniors may create some question marks and it leaves both Gilroy and Maloney in different roles as Haverford seeks its fifth straight PIAA Class 6A tournament appearance.

Gilroy goes from often being one of three “bigs” on the floor to likely being the frequent, primary post presence. Maloney goes from setting up teammates to probably being asked to share more of the scoring load.

At 6-1, Gilroy is three inches taller than any of her teammates and Pellicane describes her as both an inside and outside threat offensively.

“She’ll attack the glass off the dribble, which she has gotten better at she’s a real good shooter from about 15 (feet) and in,” the coach said. “We’re looking for a big year from her. She’s a real capable player who might be a surprise for some people because they haven’t seen a lot of her in the last couple years, especially in our league. But this is now her team. 

“We’re going to play through her this year. She’s got some young talent surrounding her, but a lot of inexperience.”

Being the focus of an offense is new to Gilroy, who is used to setting up teammates. She’ll still look to do that if she’s drawing double-teams, but knows she also needs to be more assertive with the ball.

“Coach needs me in the post this year, so getting my moves down in the post is what is going to help us out a lot,” she said.

The more prominent role extends to intangibles.

“I think I’m definitely responsible for having more of a leadership role on the team this year,” said Gilroy, who recently committed to NCAA Division III power Scranton. “I’ve never really had that role before and being the only senior captain, that’s definitely a big role that I have to take on. I’m taking a lot of pride this year in helping my teammates, getting them ready whether it’s a simple open gym or a practice or tryouts.

“ … I’m trying to keep up the energy in practice and taking a lot of pride in helping our girls get to the best that we can be.”

A team that was heavy on frontcourt scoring, led by all-state Rian Dotsey, may also alter its look in other ways.

“We’re definitely looking for Grace to step forward and become more of an offensive threat for us,” Pellicane said. “She’s a pure point guard. She loves to distribute, but she understands that she also has to look to be aggressive at the rim and work for her shot as well.”

While Gilroy was the first forward Pellicane looked to off the bench last season, Taylor Gleason was the first guard – when she was available. Unfortunately, Gleason missed nearly half her freshman season with two injuries and an illness.

“She’s an offensive threat,” Pellicane said of the 5-7 sophomore guard. “She’s going to be a really good two-way player for us. She’s aggressive to the rim and she plays hard on defense.”

A large sophomore class will get a lot of opportunities and probably produce at least one other starter. Keira Hanson, a 5-10 lefty is a guard/forward who will work from the wing. One of the team’s better outside shooters has a “lot of potential” that Pellicane hopes to bring out as she becomes more aggressive and confident.

Lucy Ardizzi, a 5-3 guard, and 5-6 Jasmine Ellerbe are the team’s other two seniors.

“They’ve been in the program now for four years,” Pellicane said. “They’ve been part of three exceptional seasons that we’ve had. As seniors, they’re going to have an opportunity to step in and contribute and each play a role.”

With back-to-back Central League titles and a perfect regular season part of the four-year run of state tournament teams, the Fords are used to being a contender.

“This program has been built on a lot of success and a lot of tradition over the past couple decades,” Pellicane said. “This group, yes we are young and yes we are inexperienced, but there’s a lot of young talent to develop, so we’re going to keep our mindset that we’ve always had.

“ … This is a group that’s going to get better and better.”