Hard workers back up talent on Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media girls basketball all-area team
Sometimes, the numbers, accolades and accomplishments don’t tell enough of the story.
This season saw three Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media girls’ basketball teams lift PIAA trophies, plenty more make state playoff runs, haul in league titles and win tournaments all while managing even more success at the individual level. For every record-setting performance or milestone effort in front of a crowd this winter, there were innumerable hours in the shadows paying the toll of sweat equity and frustration to deliver them.
There’s a lot of talented players on this year’s Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media girls’ basketball teams and they all share a common trait of being dedicated workers off the court.
Starting off the First Team is the All-Area Player of the Year in Lansdale Catholic senior Gabby Casey. The St. Joe’s-bound forward finished her career in stellar fashion, posting a 28-point, 16-rebound effort to bring home LC’s first state title in the 4A championship game against Blackhawk.
Her senior season alone was remarkable, the 5-foot-9 Casey averaging 21.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 4.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game while being named the program’s first Philadelphia Catholic League MVP, the Gatorade PA State Player of the Year and MaxPreps PA State Player of the Year. She made First Team All-PCL for a third straight year and her third straight PA Sports Writers All-State selection will follow in a few weeks.
She departs LC having helped stock a display case in the school full of trophies including that PIAA title, the program’s first PCL hubcap and a District 12 plaque and with her name etched in the school record book as the Crusaders’ top scorer ever with 1,724 career points.
Casey wouldn’t have accomplished any of that without untold hours in a gym and the same could be said for any of the other first team selections.
Speaking of record-breakers, Abington’s Cire Worley should have a good hold on the Ghosts’ girls’ scoring record for a while. The UMass-Lowell recruit was masterful in her senior season, averaging 20.4 ppg on 50% shooting, scoring inside and out while leading the Ghosts to the PIAA 6A quarterfinals.
Worley wrapped up a stellar career with 1,777 points. At the next level, the 6-foot Worley will be a matchup problem on the wings but she played on the interior for an otherwise smaller Abington team that thrived creating chaos and pressure.
In two seasons at Archbishop Wood, Deja Evans played in 10 state playoff games with the Vikings. Nine of them ended with the 6-foot-2 forward posting a double-double and two of them ended with state championships. Part of a deep and balanced team, the Albany recruit’s 8.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and two assists per game don’t pop out but in the postseason, Evans was a force with 14.2 points, 12 rebounds, 4.2 blocks, three assists, and one steal per contest.
Evans turned in a lot of hours in the gym herself, incorporating range on her jumper and some off-the-dribble skills that made an already versatile player even harder to guard.
Abby Sharpe’s name is already on one banner in Plymouth Whitemarsh’s gym, showing her as part of the Colonials’ first state title team last year and sometime this summer, it’ll be added to another banner showing her 1,250 career points. What those won’t show is the way the Penn signee willingly accepted a bench role her first two years in the program before erupting as one of the best players in the area over the last two.
The 6-foot guard filled her role and kept putting in the work, her confidence catching up to her skill as a junior and leading into a senior year that saw the Colonials capture a fourth straight outright SOL Liberty title and back-to-back SOL Tournament titles. Sharpe posted 18.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game as she and her fellow seniors will graduate with a 100-10 career record.
Casey Harter arrived as a freshman at Souderton already one of the best defensive players in the area. That, plus her athleticism, instincts and effort, would have been enough for a solid high school career. For Harter, it was motivation behind the scenes to become a player who could lock a team down on one end and carry hers offensively on the other.
The 5-foot-10 point guard wove a lot of work into a commitment to play at Northwestern but only after finishing a senior year with 16.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists and leading Souderton to back-to–back SOL Colonial titles and PIAA 6A playoff bids. Harter’s 1,211 career points are third all-time in program history.
The list isn’t exclusive to them, as there was a deep a well of talent in the area.
First Team
Gabby Casey (Sr/F) Lansdale Catholic
Cire Worley (Sr/F) Abington
Deja Evans (Sr/F) Archbishop Wood
Abby Sharpe (Sr/G) Plymouth Whitemarsh
Casey Harter (Sr/G) Souderton
Second Team
Brooke Wilson (Jr/G) Archbishop Carroll
Hannah Griffin (Sr/G) Gwynedd Mercy Academy
Jaida Helm (Sr/F) Lansdale Catholic
Erin Daley (Sr/F) Plymouth Whitemarsh
Taylor Wilson (Sr/F) Archbishop Carroll
Third Team
Olivia Boccella (Jr./G) Lansdale Catholic
Ava Renninger (Jr./G) Archbishop Wood
Sanyiah Littlejohn (So/G) Lansdale Catholic
Kendall Bennett (Sr/F) Germantown Academy
Katie Yoder (Sr/G) Pennridge
Honorable Mention
Abington: Abril Bowser, Maya Johnson
Archbishop Wood: Delaney Finnegan, Emily Knouse, Kara Meredith
Archbishop Carroll: Alexis Eberz
Cheltenham: Maya Simmons
CB East: Anna Barry
CB West: Tai Henkels
CB South: Yoyo Samayoa
Faith Christian Academy: Bella Forker, Mikayla Hissner
Germantown Academy: Isabella Casey, Jess Aponik
Gwynedd Mercy Academy: Dylan Burke, Emilia Coleman
Hatboro-Horsham: Leah Harrington
Jenkintown: Riley White
Lansdale Catholic: Nadia Yemola
Lower Moreland: Liz Neeld
Methacton: Cassidy Kropp, Mairi Smith
Mount Saint Joseph Academy: Georgia Pickett, Lauren Hoffman
North Penn: Caleigh Sperling, Abby Plaugher
Pennridge: Anna Croyle
Phil-Mont Christian Academy: Katie Tipton
Pope John Paul II: Katie Nillies
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Angelina Balcer
Quakertown: Carolyn Sipprell
Souderton: Teya McConnaha, Erin Bohmueller
Upper Dublin: Colleen Besachio, Amy Ngo, Megan Ngo
Upper Merion: Kennedy Coles, Levayda Fuqua
Upper Moreland: Holly Gohl, EmmyFaith Wood
William Tennent: Avery Kocur
Wissahickon: Kaitlyn McGeary
