Lansdale Catholic’s Casey turning motivation into production

For Gabby Casey, it was merely motivation.

As a sophomore, the Lansdale Catholic wing earned second team all-state honors in Class 4A after averaging 19.7 points per game and nearly 10 rebounds per contest, impressive stats worthy of a spot on that list.

To some, it may have been more impressive that Casey did it for a team that went just 2-11 while she routinely drew the bulk of every opponent’s defensive attention.

For Casey, it was motivation to be better but also to show the Crusaders were a good team and not just one player putting up numbers in losing efforts.

So far, the junior is getting both done for 10-3 Lansdale Catholic but the Quakertown resident knows she can still do even more.

“That award really turned another notch up in my brain and I wanted to work even harder to keep improving so when it’s time for college, I can get out there and play,” Casey said. “This year, we have some new players and everyone that came back, we all wanted to turn it up even more.”

Casey has been on a tear all season, with her teammates following in step, starting with tournament MVP honors at Souderton’s Jim Church Classic to open the campaign and more recently, MaxPreps/WBCA Player of the Week honors after averaging 32 ppg, 10 rpg and eight steals per game in wins over Bonner-Prendie, West Catholic and Neshaminy that included a new career-high 36 against West Catholic.

More important than the numbers are the wins. After starting her career at LC as the third wheel on a pretty successful team that was preparing for a PIAA 4A tournament quarterfinal game when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the season, Casey and the Crusaders endured a difficult 2020-21 campaign, with six of their games coming against eventual state champions Archbishop Wood, Cardinal O’Hara and West Catholic, plus four more against PCL powers Archbishop Carroll and Neumann-Goretti.

Casey is now the leader, both in a statistical sense but also from a take charge of the team sense as a co-captain, but she hasn’t had to carry the load alone. Sophomore Olivia Boccella has become a more consistent scoring option beyond her 3-point shooting, senior Lauren Edwards is playing her best basketball and freshmen Sanyiah Littlejohn and Nadia Yemola have helped round out the starting lineup with other players like Sam McHugh and Ali Johns, a transfer from North Penn, giving the team some depth.

“Even with all the new people, we mesh really well,” Casey said. “We share the ball, we want to win so we all do whatever we can to do that and leave our hearts out on the floor.”

LC coach Eric Gidney echoed the idea that team’s overall improvement has funneled into Casey’s elevation. Teams can’t just focus on stopping her, which has allowed Casey to continue to score at a high rate but also expand her energy and roles into rebounding, defending and most importantly, finding her voice as a leader.

“A lot of it goes to her leadership, she’s recognizing what her teammates need of her and where she can help them,” Gidney said. “Then defensively, she’s been on another level. Even rebounding, it almost seems silly because she’s always been almost a double-figure rebounder but playing the quality of defense she goes and still getting the quantity of not only defensive boards is a different level.”
Casey, who plays on the AAU circuit with the Philly Belles, wants to be a complete scorer and has put a lot of work into rounding out her offensive game. She noted that as a freshman, she shot just nine percent from the 3-point line and has tried to sharpen her shooting so she doesn’t have to just rely on her strength or athleticism to get baskets.

She’s also taken up the challenge defensively, adding that if she’s able to lock down her player and force some turnovers, it only makes things easier offensively and presents chances to get teammates easy looks.

While she shares the captain role with Edwards and senior Erin Clark, Casey is trying to take more of a hold on the responsibilities that title comes with.

“It’s still something I need to work on,” Casey said. “I try my best to pump them up and everything but I still feel like I have to do a little bit more just to get everyone going and confident for our bigger games.”

Casey’s competitive nature and aggressive style came from her battles at home growing up with her older brother Jimmy. Jimmy, a two-year standout in football and basketball at LC after transferring from Quakertown, played football this past fall at the Peddie School and has accepted a preferred walk-on offer to play football at Florida State University.

The siblings would go at it in everything, from the mini-basketball hoop in Gabby’s room, to Xbox games to Gabby joining Jimmy and his friends to play football, baseball, basketball or anything else they could think of. While Gabby said Jimmy always seems to have the right advice and always stresses to keep her teammates involved and included, she’s always looking for a chance to one-up her older brother.

“He’s a really big role model for me,” Casey said. “I’ll support him in anything but I still want to go and be better than him in everything. It’s always been a competition between us, but it’s a good one that pushes both of us.”

The junior’s strong play this play is also starting to bring more college attention. Casey picked up an offer from Delaware on Friday, adding to the one she already had from Manhattan and it seems a safe bet plenty more will follow in the coming months.

“I remember when I had my first call, I was shaking, I was in my room pacing but I’ve become a little more confident,” Casey said. “It’s definitely getting easier to talk to coaches.”

LC is currently 3-0 in the PCL, which went away from its two-division setup and back to a full league slate, but the schedule is back-loaded with games against Wood, Carroll, O’Hara and N-G call coming as the final stretch. It’s a challenging stretch against teams the Crusaders struggled with last year, but Casey is eager for her team to show it isn’t last year anymore.

It’s all motivation and even a strong start to this season hasn’t slowed her desire to keep getting better.

“I’m in the gym pretty much everyday with my trainer, she only wants the best for me and pushes me, as do all the coaches here at Lansdale Catholic. I’m really grateful for them,” Casey said. “It’s really important we support each other on the team but also keep pushing each other. It’s time for us to really get focused and it starts with us being more competitive with each other.”