Megan McConnell chooses Duquesne
Megan McConnell calls herself a “homebody” who loves Pittsburgh and is tight with her parents. She evidently likes red and blue, too.
That all added up to a college choice of Duquesne University.
McConnell, a standout point guard, made a verbal commitment Saturday to Duquesne. A senior, McConnell will go from the red and blue of Chartiers Valley to the red and blue of Duquesne.
“This was the scholarship offer I wanted,” said a joyful McConnell.
McConnell (5 feet 7), an all-state selection as a freshman, sophomore and junior, had scholarship offers from a half-dozen other schools. McConnell and her parents, Tim and Shelly, visited Duquesne Wednesday and that’s when coach Dan Burt offered a scholarship.
“Last year, they offered pretty much everyone on my AAU team,” McConnell said. “I was a little upset because that’s the school I wanted to go to. It’s close to home, my family could come see me play, but they just didn’t give me the time of day. But that made me work harder and get better.”
Tim McConnell was the boys coach at Chartiers Valley and took over the girls this season. The Colts went 29-0 and won WPIAL and PIAA titles. Megan McConnell averaged 19 points a game as a sophomore, but her average dipped to 10.9 this season as she became more of a distributor.
McConnell will be a point guard at Duquesne but said she most likely will be redshirted as a freshman.
Her oldest brother, T.J., plays for the Philadelphia 76ers and was a Dukes player for two years before transferring, breaking some Duquesne fans’ hearts. Megan has made the Duquesne women’s team happy.
“I’m a homebody person,” Megan McConnell said. “I don’t want to go away from home. I want my family to be in the stands when I play. It’s perfect for me.”
Coaching moves
After leading Bethel Park to the WPIAL baseball semifinals, Tony Fisher resigned as coach. Fisher coached the Blackhawks for nine seasons, had a 131-57 record, and made the playoffs eight times, including three semifinals.
• Ron Coursey is the athletic director at Woodland Hills and likely will be the next boys basketball coach. The Woodland Hills school board is expected to hire a coach this week and Coursey is the recommended candidate.
• Scott Dibble resigned as Bishop Canevin’s girls basketball coach after two seasons. Dibble guided the Crusaders to a WPIAL title in 2018 and the PIAA championship game.
What could’ve been
Last year, Sewickley Academy boys basketball won a WPIAL Class 2A title for the second consecutive season and made it to the PIAA semifinals. The Panthers had three talented sophomore guards. All three are now gone.
Isiah Warfield, a 6-foot-5 guard who averaged 25 points last season and has committed to Liberty University, transferred to Central Valley High School. He and his family have lived in the Central Valley district for years.
The other two guards from that 2018 Sewickley Academy team who already had left are Isaiah Smith and Jett Roesing. Smith transferred to Lincoln Park last summer and helped the Leopards win WPIAL and PIAA titles this past season. Roesing left to go to First Love Christian Academy in Washington, where his father, Nate, now is the CEO. Roesing has a few Division I scholarship offers.