SOPHOMORES SHAPE UP AS SOMETHING SPECIAL
Aislin Malcolm has scholarship offers from ACC and Big 12 schools.
Journey Thompson has them from ACC and Big East schools.
Reilly Sunday and Emma Theodorsson picked up their first offers as eighth graders, and are receiving interest from major Division I schools.
Perri Page and Corynne Hauser each have Division I offers, as well. What do they have in common? All play girls basketball for WPIAL schools and are only sophomores.
They are the class of the Class of 2022, which is shaping up to be something special.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, Western Pennsylvania has become a hotbed for girls basketball talent. Last season’s senior class saw 17 players from the WPIAL and City League sign with Division I schools. In contrast, only three boys players did the same.
While the number of girls players that decided to continue their career at the highest level of college basketball was high, only one signed with a Power Five school — Peters Township’s Makenna Marisa picked Penn State.
That’s one of the things that makes this sophomore class unique.
“This is rare in Western Pennsylvania, but there are probably three potential Power Five kids, which is a lot for us in one class,” said John Tate, director of the Western PA Bruins AAU organization. “On top of that, there are a bunch of mid-major (players) and a bunch of low-major (players). It’s one of the more talented classes we’ve had.”
You would be hard pressed to find someone with as good of a feel for the local high school girls basketball scene as Tate. Many of the top players in Western Pa., from fourth grade through high school, play for his Bruins teams.
That includes Malcolm and Thompson, arguably the top two talents in the class. Malcolm plays at Chartiers Valley and Thompson at Peters Township. A year ago as freshmen, both were starters for teams that went undefeated and won
WPIAL and PIAA championships.
This Malcolm isn’t in the middle. A 5-foot-10 sharpshooting guard, Malcolm does a lot of her damage from the outside. She knocked down six 3pointers in her first varsity game and drilled four more on her way to scoring 18 points in the WPIAL Class 5A championship. Malcolm averaged 12 points per game — second best on the team — and has offers from Pitt, West Virginia, Duquesne, Western Michigan and Kent State.
“Wow, she is something special,” said Chartiers Valley coach Tim McConnell. “She’s very talented. She’s going to be high Division I. She can really stroke it. She didn’t look to drive as much last year, but now she’s getting to the rim a lot more.”
Thompson is a 6-1 forward with offers from Pitt, St. John’s, Duquesne, Robert Morris, Western Michigan and Kent State. She averaged 13 points and 8 rebounds per game last season, and scored 16 points in the PIAA Class 6A championship.
“She’s got the footwork of a guard, but she’s 6-1,” Peters Township coach Bert Kendall said. “We have her in some of our offensive sets facing the basket, running stuff from the wing, and she can do that. I think most 6-1 kids in the WPIAL play with their backs to the basket.”
Added Tate: “Journey can really dominate a game with just her pure athleticism. Now her skill set is coming around. “
Sunday and Theodorsson are teammates at Moon. In eighth grade, each was offered by Duquesne. Sunday has since picked up offers from Robert Morris, Marshall, Toledo, Western Michigan and Colgate. Theodorsson holds offers from Robert Morris and Youngstown State.
Sunday, a 5-9 point guard, was named all-section last season and led all WPIAL freshmen in scoring with 19.7 points a game.
“Reilly is just speed and power,” said Moon coach Jody Powell. “Her motor just burns. She never gets tired. She puts just as much effort into her defense as offense. I have to remind myself to give her a break.”
Theodorsson is a 6-foot guard -forward who returns to her home school district after playing her freshman season at Bishop Canevin, where she averaged 12.4 points and was an allsection selection.
“I think she has the potential to play the three in college, but she has also done a good job of working on her post moves and on her footwork,” Powell said.
Malcolm, Thompson, Sunday and Theodorsson all play on the same Western Pa. Bruins team. Playing up one age group, they finished sixth at the Under Armour National Championships this summer in Atlanta. Another talented sophomore, Mt. Lebanon’s Ashleigh Connor, played on that team, too.
Page and Hauser are two other top talents in the class. Page plays AAU for SLAAM and Hauser for Drill 4 Skill.
Page is a 5-11 guard at Chartiers Valley and perhaps the most athletically gifted player in the class. That should come as no surprise considering her father is Julius Page, the former Pitt star who had quite a few highlight-reel dunks in his career. The Panthers have yet to offer the younger Page, but she does have one from Duquesne.
“She’s so athletic. She’s grabbing the rim right now. I wish I could grab the rim,” McConnell joked. “She has great athletic ability. She’s worked on her shot and her handle and has become a better player.”
Teammate Megan McConnell added, “I think by her senior year she’ll be able to dunk a basketball.”
Hauser, a 5-7 point guard, played a big role in Rochester winning its first WPIAL championship last season. She averaged 14.2 points on her way to allsection honors and scored 13 points in the Class 1A final. Hauser has offers from Duquesne, Robert Morris and Youngstown State.
“She’s just so unselfish,” Rochester coach C.J. Iannini said. “And it’s her speed. Her first dribble is amazingly quick. She’s hard to guard.”
Being hard to guard seems to be a common theme when it comes to these top sophomores.
“There are so many good players,” Thompson said. “We just have a lot of sophomore talent in Western Pa.”