City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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With respect to the slogan of the summer, the vibes around the Saint Joseph’s women’s basketball program during a preseason photo shoot were anything but mindful and demure. 

With Chappell Roan’s suddenly-everywhere album The Rise and Fall of a Midnight Princess blasting, the Hawks’ roster was a dancing, smiling, posing, laughing group, clearly feeling good about where they’re at. 

And with good reason.

Coming off a 28-win season, with eight of their top nine back in the fold and one of the best classes in program history looking for the one thing missing from its resumé, hopes are as high as they can be on Hawk Hill. 

All that’s left to do for Cindy Griffin’s squad is to make it happen. 

“We have that mindset now of ‘we did what we did, but now we have to finish it,’” senior Mackenzie Smith said. “It is historical and it’s awesome and I’m so proud of the group that we had last year — but we also want more.”

Smith and her classmates, Talya Brugler and Julia Nystrom, have been the core of the resurgence on City Avenue. The three arrived on Hawk Hill three years ago, joining a program coming off a 7-10 season during the COVID year, after a 9-20 finish the year before that. They'll leave it with a chance to be legends, as perhaps one of the best classes in Hawks history -- Brugler almost certain to be in the top three in program history in scoring, Smith likely to end up well inside the top 10.

A championship is what's missing.

“I think it (would) differentiate them from a lot of different classes that have had multiple 1,000-point scorers," Griffin said, pointing to the A-10 championship ring she wore. "Not that we don’t celebrate the other classes, but it’s a little bit different when you have one of these. And that’s what they’re looking for, they’re looking for that ring.”

Their freshmen year, St. Joe’s went 13-17 (7-8 Atlantic 10), but there were positive signs, Brugler the brightest amongst them. The 6-1 Nazareth Area product won A-10 Rookie of the Year honors after averaging 10.6 ppg and 5.7 rpg, leading the Hawks in both categories. Smith (9.1 ppg) and Nystrom (4.6 ppg) both started almost the entire season. 

As sophomores, they paced the Hawks to a 20-11 (9-7) season. Brugler (16.7 ppg) and Smith (13.6 ppg) became the team’s top two scorers, Nystrom its top reserve. Last year’s group took another huge leap, setting the program record for wins, finishing with the third-best season in program history by winning percentage (.824) and tying the program record for A-10 wins (15). 

The only thing they didn’t do was make the NCAA Tournament. 

Rhode Island pulled the upset in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals, No. 6 seed taking out No. 3, gaining revenge for two earlier St. Joe’s wins. The Hawks’ season continued in the WBIT, the new 32-team consolation tournament; St. Joe’s beat Seton Hall and California in the opening rounds before losing to archrival Villanova 67-59 in the quarterfinals. 

All season long, St. Joe’s has viewed last year with a mixed mindset. The record was undoubtedly a success. The ending undoubtedly was not.

“We gave ourselves a little bit of a pat on the back [for 28 wins],” Brugler said, “but now the standard is a lot higher, expectations are a lot higher. We just have to keep moving forward and not looking back.”

Expectations inside and out remain high for the Hawks, who were picked to finish second in the league (behind Richmond) at Monday’s Atlantic 10 Media Day.

Brugler and her frontcourt mate, junior Laura Ziegler (14.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg), form one of the best frontcourt duos in the league and the region; both were preseason First Team All-League selections. Smith was picked to the second team. Nystrom, who moved back into the starting lineup full-time as a junior, brings stability at point guard. 

The only player not back in the rotation is Chloe Welch, who averaged 10.7 ppg last season as a grad transfer from Davidson. 

The most likely candidate to replace Welch’s production is sophomore Gabby Casey. The 5-9 guard from Lansdale Catholic and 2023 Catholic League MVP averaged 3.8 ppg off the bench last season, the Hawks’ top-scoring reserve. That included three double-digit outings, topped by 16 points against Penn, flashes of the talent she showed at LC and her potential to be a big-time college scorer. 

“This past summer, I’ve been working out a lot more and a lot harder,” she said. “Expectations are high, so you have to mimic how you’re going to play in a game, that’s an area I focused on.”

Another sophomore, Penn Charter’s Aleah Snead, should also see an uptick in production after averaging 2.4 ppg and 1.6 rpg as a freshman. A pair of grad students, forward Paula Maurina (2.2 ppg, 1.1 rpg) and guard Emma Boslet (1.5 ppg, 1.7 rpg) both averaged double-digit minutes in more than 30 games off the bench last year.

The Hawks got an extra boost this summer with a trip to Italy and Croatia, the first time outside the country for several members of the team. Though the more valuable on-court portion was the 10 practices before the trip compared to two games against an overmatched Croatian All-Stars team, it was the experiences like ziplining through the mountains that stuck with them the most.

“The bonding was the best part,” Casey said. “We were with each other the whole time, and we had a great time, everybody was smiling, and just getting to know each other more on a deeper level outside of basketball.”

St. Joe’s women get their season underway on Nov. 6 with a warm-up against D-II Goldey-Beacom (Del.) before instantly stepping up with a road trip to Syracuse (Nov. 10); a trip to Utah (Nov. 22) and the Holy War against Villanova (Dec. 1) are the two other significant highlights on the non-conference slate.

Beating at least one of the high-major non-conference foes would be a good start towards building a March Madness-worthy resume. The only way for the Hawks to ensure they don’t have to sweat it out on Selection Sunday, of course, will be to win the Atlantic 10.

That’s five months away. Brugler and her teammates know exactly how long that is, and what it’ll take between now and then to make it happen.

“I think our big thing that we say is just to be where your feet are,” she said. “Don’t look too far ahead, don’t look back [...] take every day as an opportunity because you never know what can happen down the line. Just be where we are.”