Penn Hills star fueled by brother’s death
Adia Brisker spent the holidays with her brother, decorating his Christmas tree, sharing his favorite candy and talking as the tight-knit siblings have for her entire life. She chatted until the sky grew dark. His words, to stay strong, to be good, echoed in her head when it was time to go. She needed those words of encouragement as she left Allegheny Cemetery.
It was nearly four years ago, on Feb. 3, 2015, that Brisker’s older brother Tale’ was shot and killed in Prairie View, Texas, at the age of 19. Since that day, Adia Brisker has used basketball as not only an outlet to dull the pain, but also a way of honoring her brother, whose grave site she visits regularly, and lifting her family.
Brisker, a senior guard at Penn Hills, had the highlight of her season so far in a 32-31 win Jan. 10 at Oakland Catholic. Trailing by a point with 2.8 seconds remaining, Brisker caught a cross-court inbounds pass and drove to her left, then banked in the game-winner as time expired to cap a 15-point performance.
The crowd erupted. Teammates mobbed her. Amidst the chaos and jubilation, Brisker’s gaze cut through it all looking for one thing: that smile on her mother’s face.
“People think they know what you’ve been through, but they don’t,” Brisker said. “It’s unbearable. My mom has been through so much. Seeing my mom happy and smiling and jumping up and down made me proud.”
Brisker’s older brothers, Tale’, Shawn and Penn State’s Jaquan each played football at Gateway. The brothers were a major source of inspiration for Adia, who refused to be the little sister.
“I’d come downstairs and see the boys lifting, and say, ‘I want to lift, too,’” reminisced Adia. “’You going to the field? Oh, I’m going, too.’ It was never rest time.”
Brisker is a Niagara University recruit averaging a team-leading 10.6 points for the Indians (10-3, 60 Class 5A Section 3). Through Monday, Penn Hills was riding a five-game winning streak with impressive victories against North Catholic and Oakland Catholic, teams that each played for a WPIAL championship last season.
The Indians, however, are more than just their emotional leader. Tayonna Robinson forms a potent one-two punch as the second-leading scorer at 10 points per game. Ariana Duncan, Niya Moore and several others contribute defensively for a team that allows 39.9 points per game, one of the stingiest units in Class 5A.
The worst part of her life drives Brisker. However, she is determined to use that motivation for positives, whether it be spreading Tale’s words of encouragement or sharing her accomplishments with him. And if the Indians can win a title, as Adia hopes to do, there will be another day of decorating with Tale’ when she hopes to drape a gold medal on his grave site so they can bask in the moment.
“Basketball has brought me a long way,” said Brisker. “It did something for me that nothing could ever do for me. All this pain I go through every day, this helps me with everything. The last talk I had with my brother at his grave, I said, ‘This is all for you.’ The next time I visit, I want to bring him a title.”
Bishop Canevin
Coach Scott Dibble earned his 300th career win in style. His Crusaders knocked off New York’s Bishop Kearney, 49-47, on the road to score the milestone victory. Bishop Kearney was ranked by some outlets as the top team in the state of New York at the time, a state semifinalist last season that brought back four starters this season. Shamyjha Price scored the game-winning shot to lift defending WPIAL champion Bishop Canevin (12-2). Dibble, in his second year at the helm of the Crusaders, has a career record of 301-92.
Quigley Catholic
When the Post-Gazette ran scoring leaders last week through the first 10 games of the season, Taylor Kirschner was averaging 17.5 points per game. She gave that average quite a boost recently, as the Spartans (7-6, 4-2 Class 1A Section 1) won two of their next three. Kirschner netted 33 points against Eden Christian Jan. 7 then followed up with a 32-point effort against Vincentian Jan. 10. She had 24 points Monday against Rochester, a loss that snapped Quigley’s five-game winning streak.