North Penn’s Carangi follows family path to Villanova

Sam Carangi was already plenty familiar with the basketball court at Villanova’s Pavilion.

When she got around to seeing the rest of campus and put the whole picture together, everything just fell into place.

Carangi, a junior at North Penn, made a verbal commitment on Sunday to play basketball at Villanova.

The sharpshooting guard is continuing the family line with the Wildcats, following her aunt, Mary Beth Snell, and mother, Jen Snell Carangi, who both played at Villanova.

“It was between Villanova and Drexel as my final two,” Carangi said. “I loved everything about Drexel. The coaching staff was great and so were the girls, but I just felt more comfortable at Villanova. I loved the campus at Villanova as well as the players and coaching staff and I felt that if I loved the campus, it would be the right decision.”

Incidentally, the Dragons’ head coach, Denise Dillon, was her mother’s teammate and roommate at Villanova.

“It was always in the back of my mind but my parents didn’t influence anything at all,” Carangi said. “My mom is still really good friends with (Dillon) so she would have been happy either way.”

With such rich family ties, Carangi spent plenty of time at the Pavilion. From the little girl running the sidelines to a District 1-AAAA champion as a freshman at North Penn in 2014, the guard has made plenty of memories in the building.

Carangi described it as feeling just like home, and all the time spent there over the years was too much of a pull to say no to.

Knocking her commitment out of the way early will allow Carangi to just go out and play the next two years, something she’s looking forward to. After a sophomore season slowed first by a right hand injury then a midseason illness, Carangi is looking to refine her game around her potent long-range shooting.

“I don’t really try to focus on numbers and stuff, I like to be more team-oriented,” Carangi said. “We couldn’t do anything without our teammates, If I didn’t have the teammates that I’ve had, I wouldn’t be where I am. My team helps me a lot.”

Carangi shook off the injury bug for most of the summer, enjoying her AAU season with the DVBA Comets. Among her teammates were Archbishop Wood’s Bailey Greenberg, PIAA 4A state champion Cumberland Valley’s Kelly and Katie Jekot — Kelly a Villanova commit — and Hannah Nihill, one of Carangi’s best friends who has committed to Drexel along with Greenberg.

Unfortunately, the end of summer wasn’t as kind as the start as Carangi broke her ankle. The junior said she’s likely getting the boot on her foot off soon and doesn’t expect to miss any time this winter.

A knock-down shooter, Carangi wants to use the second half of her varsity career and AAU time to diversify her game, including adding to her mid-range game and ball-handling on offense. It’s much the same on the defensive side of the floor.

“With my ankle injury I just want to bounce back quick,” Carangi said. “With my defense, I want to improve that, keep up my quickness on defense and just improve all around.”

Carangi said she expects to redshirt her freshman year at Villanova and that Wildcat coaches view her as a shooting guard to best take advantage of her skill-set.

Even with basketball running in the family blood, Carangi did try to branch out, playing soccer for a bit until the allure of the hardwood was too much to avoid. It was only a matter of time until she went all-in on hoops and in some ways, it only seemed like a matter of time until she found her way out to the Main Line.

Carangi already has one district title and two appearances in the state playoffs to her name at North Penn. With two more seasons left, and with a vast majority of last year’s team coming back, the Maidens should be a District 1 force until it’s time for Carangi to move on to the next level.

“I love my high school team, we’re all so close and we’ve only gotten closer in the past year,” Carangi said. “The sophomores now, they feel more comfortable with us, so it should be good.”

Top Photo: North Penn’s Sam Carangi (23) and Central Bucks West’s Nicole Munger (33) race for a loose ball during second-half action of their contest at Central Bucks West High School on Thursday, Jan.29, 2015. (Mark C Psoras/The Reporter)