WPIAL GIRLS BASKETBALL PREVIEW
Peters Township standout Marisa was destined to rise above
Before she committed to Penn State, became a Post-Gazette Player of the Year or established herself as a dominant, 5-foot-10 force in WPIAL girls basketball, Makenna Marisa was a freshman on a Peters Township team trailing Bethel Park in the fourth quarter.
Marisa had scored 10 points already, but the Indians were down by six — until she caught fire with 19 points in the fourth, turning that deficit into an eight-point win and going on to help Peters to the playoffs that year for the first time since 2011.
It was the first of many games Peters coach Bert Kendall watched Marisa “take over,” causing his phone to start buzzing from intrigued college coaches. Villanova, as it turns out, was there that night, at the request of Bethel Park coach Jonna Burke.
Burke wanted the Wildcats to take a look at one of her players. They ended up going after Marisa and became one of her many college offers, including Baylor, Michigan, Washington, Central Florida, Nebraska, Pitt and Duquesne, among others.
Even back then, it was hard to stop Marisa, who elevates and releases the ball at the height of her shot, pursues her own rebound and sets up teammates, as well. Now a senior, she has grown into a versatile leader, a point guard who can just as easily play with her back to the basket.
“She’s just so athletic,” Burke said. “She’s bringing the ball up the court and you’re praying that she’s going to pass the ball... I was like ‘Wow, I have four years of that coming.’”
The Nittany Lions, who went
16-16 last year, might look like a curious choice for Marisa considering her offers, but it seems she was born with basketball in her bones and Penn State in her blood.
Her grandpa, Rudy, played basketball at Penn State and was a member of the 1954 Final Four team, later becoming a basketball coaching legend at Waynesburg. Her mom, Donna, played basketball at Penn State Behrend and helps rebound for her when she shoots after practice. Her dad, Kameron, is a basketball referee. In fact, her parents met on a basketball court in Green Tree around 1990, when Kameron blocked Donna’s shot while they were scrimmaging in a group.
Both her older brothers attend Penn State. Her twin sister Morgan plays with Marisa at Peters. One of her brothers, Kelson, is the captain of the club basketball team at Penn State and will scrimmage against Marisa next year as a member of the team’s practice squad. Cue the 1-on-1 battles.
“It’s really cool,” Makenna said. “I’m happy I have family members that love sports and have the same passion that I do, especially Kelson. I’m just really excited, too, with my grandpa’s background at Penn State, and just my whole family’s, I’m really excited to play there. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Marisa, who will wear No. 20 in college, same as her grandpa, embarks on her senior season with 1,115 career points, 478 rebounds and 180 assists. She averaged 22.9 points, 9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game as a junior and was a first-team all-state selection last year.
She led the Indians to a WPIAL championship appearance last season, though they fell to North Allegheny, and Bethel Park got the best of them in the first round of the PIAA playoffs after three losses to the Indians prior in the season.
For Kendall, who has coached Marisa all through high school, Marisa is a luxury few coaches have.
“I think beyond her Godgiven talent, mostly what separates her is the time she puts in. She just spends an amazing amount of time working on her game, working out all the time, and you just see it in her shooting and her ball-handling and her rebounding,” Kendall said.
“It’s because she puts the time in. She’s a very, very special player anyway, but she doesn’t get by just on her athletic ability. She’s earned every bit of the recognition she’s gotten.”
Marisa played soccer alongside basketball until her sophomore year, taking that extra time to hone her basketball skills. Her game has changed considerably, developing her jump shot and working to limit fouls and turnovers.
“I’m pretty competitive,” Marisa said. “I like to push myself and when there’s a WPIAL championship that we could win this year... I kind of have always been like that. It all started freshman year, because I played soccer my freshman year, and then I said I wanted to spend all my time with basketball after my freshman year, so I spent extra time in the gym, stayed after practice an hour and a half shooting, working on ball-handling, all that stuff.”
Most nights, she takes time to get some extra practice dribbling in the family’s garage.
“It could be 2 in the morning, down in our garage, especially in the summer, and our bedroom is right above the garage, and we would hear ‘boom, boom, boom,’ and we were like ‘You know what, good for her, we’re just going to have to get through this,’” Donna said. “She has that drive that you cannot teach. You can’t teach it. It’s a passion, it’s a drive.”
Her family never had to push her toward basketball — or Penn State — but Marisa appreciates how it bonds them, drawing inspiration from it.
“It’s just made me want to work harder,” Marisa said. “Just knowing that it is in my blood, my brothers love it, my grandpa loves it, my mom, it just makes me want to become great. And just work hard to be successful in the future.”
Now, about that elusive WPIAL championship.
“Expectations for myself, I really just want to do my part,” Marisa said. “As a whole, within the team, I really just want to do my part to win a WPIAL championship and section [title], and just go as far as we can. But I think our team’s going to be really good this year.”