Top players to watch in Berks I girls basketball

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2023 Berks basketball coverage presented by

Utilities Employees Credit Union

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Peyton Brill

Muhlenberg

The Muhls’ defensive ace is coming off a season in which she averaged 3.7 steals per game. The 5-7 senior guard will be crucial in slowing down the other talented guards throughout the division.

Brill averaged 5.5 points, 3.0 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per game as the indispensable jack-of-all-trades; she was selected as an honorable mention choice in the division.

Brill has received minutes since her freshman season and is poised to parlay that experience into a big senior year. She’s also clutch, hitting a game-winning 3-pointer to beat Exeter as a sophomore.

The Muhls will ask a lot of Brill this season — the biggest ask coming on the offensive side — as they replace their top two scorers. Liberty Stitzman is now playing at Penn State Berks and junior Ryanna Hightower-Prentice is no longer on the team.

Laila Jones

Wilson

There’s been some preseason buzz about Wilson overtaking Berks Catholic in the division; that conversation starts with the 5-7 Jones.

She averaged 13.4 points as a freshman and garnered All-Berks honors and was at the forefront of the Bulldogs’ youth movement. Jones was the first freshman to receive All-Berks honors since Fleetwood’s Alexis Hess, now at Kansas State, in 2020.

Wilson finished second in Berks I last season and gave Berks champ Wyomissing arguably its toughest test from a county opponent during the regular season. The Bulldogs lost to the Spartans by eight in the Berks League semifinals with Jones dropping a team-high 13 points. It was the only time Wyomissing beat  a Berks opponent by less than 10 points until a 24-23 win over Berks Catholic in districts.

The moment was never too big for Jones.

The compact, quick point guard comes from an athletic family —  brother Jaydn was a football star at Wilson and brother Cam excelled in both basketball and football.

Jones has been competing with the Philly-based K-Low Elite AAU this summer, a program founded by former Villanova great and current Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry.

Taylor Koenig

Gov. Mifflin

The 5-8 forward enters her final season as Mifflin’s most experienced player.

The Mustangs must replace nearly half their scoring with the departures of Shakyla Mayo (11.9 points per game) and Anyah Ortiz (10.7). That opens plenty of opportunity for the sharpshooting Koenig, who averaged 12.1 points over the final 10 games last season after returning from a knee injury.

She sits at 503 career points and 1,000 isn’t out of the question if she plays 20-plus games.

Koenig played in 11 games as a freshman before bursting onto the scene as a sophomore with a 12.9 scoring average and 48 treys, second-most in the league, helping the Mustangs win a BCIAA championship.

The knee injury kept her out until mid-January last season and the Mustangs stumbled to their first losing season since 2009. Mifflin bowed out of the league quarterfinals with a 55-44 loss to rival Wilson.

Needless to say Koenig and the Mustangs will be motivated in getting back to the top; Mifflin won Berks championships in 2022, 2020, 2019, 2016, and 2015 and became the standard-bearer in Berks girls basketball alongside Berks Catholic.

Koenig competes with the Philly-based AAU squad Lady Runnin Rebels, winning the Hoop Group Showcase League 17U championship earlier this summer.

https://x.com/TaylorKoenig23/status/1684657507262697472?s=20

Madison Langdon

Berks Catholic

Reliable guard play has been a staple at Berks Catholic and a prime reason for its continued success. Caroline Reedy passed the torch to Caraline Herb, who will now pass it to Madison Langdon.

Langdon, a 5-4 all-division junior guard, is next up to replace Herb, a 1,000-point scorer and All-Berks selection who averaged a team-high 15.5 points and is now at Chestnut Hill College.

The Saints’ offense will flow through Langdon as she looks to boost her scoring average for the third straight season.  She’ll be responsible for getting 6-foot Sydney Corado and 5-9 Molly McFadden, both juniors, involved while also covering the opposing team’s top guard.

She averaged 5.4 points as a freshman and 10.9 last season, second-highest on the team. It’s likely a boost will occur beyond the 3-point line — Langdon hit 16 last year —  as someone will need to replace Herb’s 70 treys.

This should help: Langdon has continued training with Adrianna Hahn, who made the most 3’s in Villanova women history. Langdon also competes with the Philly-based Lady Runnin Rebels during the AAU season.

Langdon is durable and tough; she hasn’t missed a game in her first two seasons.

Yamilex Rodriguez
Reading High

The 5-4 junior guard has been an offensive spark for the Red Knights the past two seasons, averaging 7.9 points as a freshman and a team-high 9.6 last season.

The scoring average is expected to go up as Rodriguez enters her upperclassmen years.

Rodriguez is a crafty scorer who can finish or draw contact at the rim to get to the foul line, where she converts at a 72-percent clip.

When the treys are dropping, watch out: She’s made four 3’s in a game twice in her career resulting in 26 points and a 63-29 victory over William Allen as a freshman and 24 points and a 47-38 win over Cedar Crest last season.

Rodriguez made strides in the defensive and ball-handling areas as a sophomore; that will be key after the departure of All-Berks do-it-all guard Ashanti Chapman.

The Red Knights have their sights set on returning to the league championship game. Rodriguez, who plays AAU ball for K-Low Elite with teammate Tamyia Collier, will have to be the one to lead them back.

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Other players to watch in Berks I:

• Tamyia Collier, 5-8 junior, Reading High
• Sydney Corado, 6-0 junior, Berks Catholic
• Keira Estrada, 5-5 senior, Gov. Mifflin
• Sophia Fernandez, 5-5 junior, Muhlenberg
• Brooklyn George, 5-8 freshman, Gov. Mifflin
• Violet Houck, 5-11 sophomore, Wilson
• Lianna Martir, 5-3 sophomore, Muhlenberg
• Molly McFadden, 5-9 junior, Berks Catholic
• Jasilyn Moncada, 5-7 senior, Wilson
• Gianna Roberts, 5-3 senior, Berks Catholic
• Bianca Seabury, 5-7 senior, Reading High
• Mia Vazquez, 5-9 junior, Gov. Mifflin