Nazareth grad Talya Brugler elevating her game at Saint Joseph’s
Former Blue Eagles star soaring with the Hawks
Talya Brugler arrived at Saint Joseph’s University last year with the competitiveness needed to succeed in college basketball already in place.
The experience she gained as a freshman has allowed her to elevate her play in Year 2. Brugler displayed her fitness last week at Rhode Island. The Nazareth High graduate played all 50 minutes and scored a team-best 24 points as the Hawks suffered a double-overtime loss to the Atlantic 10-leading Rams.
Brugler also finished with six rebounds, two blocks and two steals, extending her season-long excellence for an improved SJU. The Hawks took a 15-7 overall record into Wednesday’s matchup with VCU after going 13-17 last season.
“She’s grown in a lot of different ways,” SJU coach Cindy Griffin said by phone Monday. “From a leadership standpoint, she’s taken on a leadership role. She’s one of our tri-captains.
“She’s also done a great job in the offseason of committing to the weight room and all the benefits from that, whether it just be taking care of her body, knowing that it’s a long season, or being at her best when it’s time to perform.”
Brugler is shooting a team-best 50.6% from the field and averaging a team-leading 16.1 points per game. She also tops the Hawks in steals (24) while ranking second in minutes (32.3 per game) and rebounds (5.4 per game).
The strength Brugler added in the offseason has helped her improve in the post. She has absorbed and finished through contact better as a sophomore, averaging 4.64 free-throw attempts per game and shooting 85.3% from the foul line. She averaged 2.07 free-throw attempts per game last season while shooting 77.4%.
Playing at a high level is nothing new for Brugler. She was The Morning Call’s girls basketball player of the year in 2021, twice was voted the EPC MVP and graduated from Nazareth as the highest-scoring girls basketball player in school history.
Serving as a team leader as a young player in SJU’s program is a challenge she has enjoyed.
“I was pretty familiar with having a leadership role from my position in high school and my club team,” Brugler said. “Just carrying over the things I learned from those experiences and taking them over to this level has helped.
“I was very fortunate to have great leaders last year as a freshman. Just picking up their characteristics and the things they taught me as a freshman, I think that I’m using it well to help those around me, whether they’re older than me our younger than me.”
Brugler is looking to lead SJU to a strong finish after the team’s recent rough stretch.
The Hawks have dropped five of their last six games, with all of the losses coming by six or fewer points.
Her preparation before and during the season has her feeling good despite her heavy workload. The Hawks have already competed well against the A-10s best teams, beating one in George Washington and losing tight contests against Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Fordham.
“We’ve had a lot of very close games where we’re right there, and I see us coming out on top in the next six , just because of how hard we’ve been working the past few weeks and past few months,” Brugler said. “We just have to finish strong and bring our intensity to a different level.
“Sometimes we’re getting off to slow starts, which doesn’t help us at the end of games. So just coming out with a chip on our shoulder every game is really important for us. Just coming off a few losses, I think we naturally feel that way.”
Taking note
Moravian graduate student Tessa Zamolyi (Bethlehem Catholic) was named the Landmark Conference women’s basketball athlete of the week and earned a spot on the D3hoops.com team of the week. She averaged 21.0 points and 10.5 rebounds as the Greyhounds went 2-0 last week. … Lehigh senior Frannie Hottinger was named the Patriot League women’s basketball player of the week for a sixth time this season. She leads the league in scoring at 21.1 points per game.