West Virginia basketball continues to make moves
New coach adds Norton to manage development role
The additions to West Virginia’s men’s basketball team keep coming as coach Darian DeVries appointed Nick Norton to his staff.
Norton will serve as an assistant coach and the director of player development for the Mountaineers. He spent the last three seasons on DeVries’ staff at Drake, helping the Bulldogs to an 80-26 (.755) record with two NCAA tournament appearances and two Missouri Valley Conference titles.
He has a prolific collegiate career starting at UAB from 2014-18. He made 97 starts for the Blazers, was named AllConference USA third team as a sophomore and was named to the All-Freshman team during his rookie season.
He closed out his time in college at Drake under DeVries during the 2018-19 season. He averaged 14.0 points, 5.9 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game before an injury ended his collegiate career. Norton set Drake’s single-game assists record (17) against North Dakota State, a record that stood until the 2022-23 season.
In 2019, Norton signed with the South Bay Lakers of the NBA G League, appearing in two games before stepping away due to injuries.
This announcement comes 10 days after DeVries was appointed head coach of the Mountaineers and seven days after Tucker DeVries transferred to the program.
Penn State active
The transfer portal has been open for a little more than two weeks, and the Nittany Lions have already signed a transfer.
Coach Mike Rhoades announced the addition of Xavier transfer Kachi Nzeh. He joins Penn State with three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Nzeh appeared in 19 games while making four starts during his true freshman season with the Musketeers. He averaged 2.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 9.8 minutes per game while shooting 60% from the field. His season was highlighted by a 13-point, six-rebound performance at Georgetown..
He was rated the No. 2 player in the state of Pennsylvania by 247Sports coming out of high school at George School. He earned Philadelphia Sports Digest Non-PIAA Player of the Year honors and Philadelphia Sports Digest Non- PIAA first team accolades as a senior.
National accolades
Robert Morris women’s hockey freshman Alaina Giampietro was named to the USCHO All- Rookie Team.
She ended the season with 31 points, scoring 19 goals with 12 assists. Her goal total led all College Hockey America rookies in 2023- 24. Among freshmen in the NCAA, her 19 scores and four game-winning goals were the second most.
Giampietro had eight multipoint efforts and collected six-game and fivegame point streaks. She also added three power- play goals and blocked 26 shots.
Giampietro garnered several awards throughout her freshman campaign, which started in the first month of the season as she was tabbed the Hockey Commissioners Association and CHA’s Rookie of the Month in October. She was named Rookie of the Month by the conference again in February and earned Rookie of the Week status on four occasions.
She is the sixth Colonialshistory to make the AllUSCHO Rookie team.
Penn State sophomore forward Tessa Janecke was named to the All-USCHO second team. She was recently named a CCM/AHCA second team All-American after a career-best year. Her sophomore season consisted of being named to the first team All-CHA, CHA Player and Forward of the Year and finishing the regular season as the league’s scoring champion.
Penn State gymnastics
The WCGA announced that sophomore Ava Piedrahita was named the region’s co-gymnast of the year, Sarah Brown earned Head Coach of the Year honors and the team of Ralph Rosso, Rachel Inniss and Lynnzee Brown brought home Assistant Coaches of the Year laurels. Penn State is in the northeast region of the WCGA.
Piedrahita followed up her postseason All-American season last year with an outstanding showing in 2024, recording six 9.9-plus vault totals without dipping below 9.800 in the event. She also posted five 39.400-plus allaround scores, including a 39.525 career-best mark.
Piedrahita earns her first career regional honor alongside Michigan’s Sierra Brooks. The Big Ten athletes were both named to the AllConference first team, as well.
Brown’s first career WCGA regional honor comes after she guided the Nittany Lions to a programrecord 196.825 regular-season NQS during the 2024 season. Brown has Penn State ready for Round 2 of the Michigan Regional this year after its record-breaking regular season.
Individually, Brown coached Kalea McElligott to a Big Ten Freshman of the Year campaign and sophomore Piedrahita to first team All-Big Ten nods. Both gymnasts contributed heavily to each one of Brown’s lineups, with Piedrahita competing the all-around in every meet of the season and McElligott doing so in all but one in her freshman campaign.
Following an outstanding conclusion to the 2023 campaign, Penn State added Lynnzee Brown to its assistant coaching corps and subsequently put together an even better 2024 season.