Peters Township’s Makenna Marisa busy collecting offers

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

One of the top high school girls basketball players in the state is planning on announcing her college destination soon.

As for which school it will be, Makenna Marisa is keeping that close to vest.

Marisa is a senior at Peters Township and the reigning Post-Gazette player of the year. A 5-foot-11 guard, Marisa averaged 22.9 points and nine rebounds a game as a junior when she was named first-team all-state and led the Indians to the WPIAL Class 6A final.

Since then, Marisa has seen her recruitment pick up quite a bit. She said she has more than two dozen offers, the latest coming Tuesday from Big 12 power Baylor. Marisa said Penn State, Villanova, Duquesne, Pitt, Michigan and West Virginia are a few of the schools that stick out. Marisa plans on taking some visits in September and hopes to make a decision by early October.

“I have a list of schools and I’m not rushing the process,” Marisa said. “I’m very fortunate so many school are recruiting me.”

Marisa said Pitt and Duquesne are both very activein her recruitment. Pitt offered when Suzie McConnellSerio was the school’s coach. Not long after Lance White took over this spring, he made sure to let Marisa know she was still a priority for the program. Duquesne also has a shot. The Dukes were the first schoolto offer and Marisa said she has a good relationship withcoach Dan Burt.

Needless to say, if Marisa wants to attend a school close to home, she has options. And if she wants to go to a school 2,500 miles away from home, that’s also an option. Washington offered Marisa earlier this month. That makes two WPIAL basketball players with Pac-12 offers. Butler’s Ethan Morton has been offered by Oregon and Stanford.

“I feel that even if it’s far away from home, I want to go to a school where I feel at home and most comfortable,” Marisa said.

Another Coy to Virginia

You could say Penn-Trafford senior Nick Coy was destined to wrestle at Virginia. He has known some of the coaches since he was in middle school and his older brother, Cam, will be a redshirt freshman for the Cavaliers.

Last week, Coy gave Virginia his word that he, too, will wrestle at the school.

Coy, the WPIAL Class 3A runner-up at 132 pounds last season, said he chose Virginia over offers from Pitt, Bucknell, Cornell, VMI and Air Force.

Coy pointed to his relationship with the Virginia coaches — especially head coach Steve Garland — and the school’s excellent academic reputation as reasons he chose the school. The opportunity to again be teammates with Cam was a big draw, too.

“When I decided to commit, he was the first person I called. I told him it’s going to be just like high school,” said Coy.

There could be yet another Coy brother wrestling at Virginia one day. Hayden is a seventh-grader with a promising future in the sport.

“Me and Cam will work on him,” Nick said, laughing. “We’re hoping to get another Coy brother at UVA.”

Baseball commitments

Beaver Falls’ Dayln Brickner (Youngstown State); Central Catholic’s Trey Law (Youngstown State); Mars’ Jon Wetherholt (West Virginia); North Allegheny’s Anthony Hattrup (Dayton).

Basketball commitment

Bethel Park’s Maria Cerro (IUP).