Hamburg Girls Basketball Summer Invitational Notebook
- Sean McBryan
- Jul 17, 2025
- 6 min read
Each summer, Hamburg Area High School and girls basketball head coach Aly McBreen host three days of scrimmages at its campus.
Those dates fell on July 9, July 16, and July 23 this year with the Hawks, Fleetwood, Kutztown, Minersville, and Pine Grove attending.
BGB checked out the action Wednesday with games running simultaneously from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on two side-by-side courts in the main gym. Each scrimmage was played with a 10-minute running clock with five total sets repeated twice. Each team was off for one set.
Here are some notes from the invitational:
Berks Women Coaches on the Rise
Aly McBreen has been around Berks County basketball her entire life.
Her father, Tom York, was a three-year starter at Kutztown University before coaching stints at Phoenixville and Glen Mills. York coached the KU women's team from 1987-1994, Wilson high school girls from 1996-2000, and Exeter high school girls in 2000-01. He's been on the KU men's coaching staff ever since.
McBreen, who scored 1,135 points in her high school career at Daniel Boone, is now carving her own path in the coaching ranks as she enters her fifth season leading the Hawks.
"I think it's helped me learn a little bit of how the county is," said McBreen, who teaches in the Hamburg School District. "There are a lot of the same people who I played against and who have played basketball in Berks County. It's neat to see some of them come back and coach [in the county]. I also learned a lot from my dad."
One of those former Berks players now coaching in the county is Reading High head coach Rashida Suber, a 2,000-point scorer with the Red Knights and a Hall of Famer at Coppin State and in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), who is entering her sixth season leading the Red Knights after winning her first Berks title as head coach.
At the time McBreen was hired as the Hawks head coach in 2021, she and Suber were the only women head coaches in all of Berks County high school basketball.
"It's good to have a mixture, but I purposely wanted an all-women staff," McBreen said. "I just think it's important for [the players] to see us, like we're there for them, but we also went through it. We're here to talk them through situations and it's a little bit easier to relate."
There are now six total women head coaches in Berks, all on the girls' side, with McBreen, Suber, Muhlenberg's Xio Toledo (who played at Fleetwood/Berks Catholic), Fleetwood's Courtney Mitchell (who played at Wyomissing), Kutztown's Jessica Plisko (who played at Riverside High in Moosic, Pa.), and Antietam's Jamie Harle (who played at Exeter).
Rebuilding the Nest
Hamburg has graduated four of its top five scorers from last season, none more important than do-it-all forward and leading scorer Mia Gassert (10.0 points per game).
The Hawks finished with a 6-5 record in Berks III and 9-13 record overall last season. They split their league games against division foe Schuylkill Valley, losing 36-30 in overtime and winning 37-32 in the season finale, the other challenger aiming to knock Wyomissing off its throne.
Opportunity awaits in Berks III with the Spartans graduating a historic senior class and dealing with injuries to key players. Hamburg last finished second in its division in 2011-12; the last time the Hawks won a division title was in 1985. The last time the Hawks finished with a winning record was at 11-10 in 2020-21, the year before McBreen took over. This upcoming season is a prime chance to overwrite that.
"We'll still be young this year," McBreen said. "We have a lot of sophomores, juniors that can come in and help towards winning. I think building it for the next few years would be great too."
Hamburg's top returner is rising junior Norah Davey, who averaged 5.4 ppg and is also a standout softball player. That scoring average was second on the team behind Gassert last year.
The other players to see action in double digit games were rising senior Kyla Rogers (0.5 ppg in 13 games); rising juniors Marcianna Dellamonica (1.0 ppg in 16 games), Madeline Wilkes (1.2 ppg in 19 games), and Kaylea Detweiler (0.5 ppg in 11 games); and rising sophomore Amelia Reader (1.3 ppg in 14 games).
Reader, a speedy guard and soccer standout, impressed Wednesday with crafty finishes to the basket and transition buckets.
Another eye-catcher Wednesday was rising freshman Ashayleoni Camper. She showed an aggressive dribble drive attack and potential as an outside shooter while also giving full effort defensively. While Camper missed a few bunnies and jumpers, she still finished a handful of layups through contact and knocked in a 3 in Hamburg's win over Minersville.
Kutztown's Core Continuing Ascent
Kutztown continues to impress this offseason with a solid returning foundation and second-year head coach Jessica Plisko — who was not present Wednesday — seemingly pressing the right buttons.
"I think honestly, with our new coach, we've just been working on dynamics that we haven't been taught before," rising senior Jayden Gehris said Wednesday. "Especially with plays, learning how to push the ball up, learning how to play as a team."
Gehris, who was not in attendance when the Cougars beat Wyomissing at the Spartans' Summer League, took the floor Wednesday. She'll be the senior leader for a strong 2027 rising junior class that includes Kaitlyn Houptley, Riley Derstine, Jade Fitzgerald, and Ava Kutz.
"I do feel like a leader, but Riley's also already become a leader," Gehris said. "Kaitlyn's a leader with how she plays on the court. We all just try to lift each other up."
The three-sport athlete (softball, soccer, basketball) gives Plisko a vocal guide at the point guard position with good handle. Gehris averaged 4.7 ppg last season and hit eight 3s.
Kutztown, along with Pine Grove, appeared to be the top two teams Wednesday. With their top five scorers back, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Cougars improve on their 10-12 record from a season ago.
"I think we've improved a lot since last year," Gehris said. "Like I've seen so much improvement from everybody on and off the court."
Schuylkill Leaguers
Minersville and Pine Grove both hired new head coaches last offseason, each with storied playing careers in the Schuylkill League.
Minersville's Emily Mealey led the Miners to a 31-0 record and the PIAA Class 2A state title as a senior in 2017 before a stellar career at Lebanon Valley College.
Allison Rizzo, formerly Palubinsky, is a Hall of Famer at Shenandoah Valley and played at Lycoming College. She previously coached as an assistant collegiately at Penn State Schuylkill and at the high school level at North Schuylkill.
Rizzo and Mealey were both on their respective sidelines calling the shots Wednesday.
The Cardinals fared much better than the Miners in the coaches' debut seasons. Pine Grove went 14-9, losing in the opening round of the District 11 playoffs to end their season. The Miners finished 2-20 and are in rebuild mode.
Pine Grove graduated three key seniors in Ayla Schneck-Haines (9.2 ppg), Addison Zimmerman (6.6 ppg), and Hannah Leininger (3.4 ppg), but returns a solid group led by rising sophomore center Hollynn Sampson, who averaged a team-high 9.3 ppg last season as a freshman.
On Wednesday, Sampson displayed strength in the post to outmuscle defenders for easy buckets and rebounds while also showing agile drop-step footwork.
Sampson is joined by rising senior Callee Leffler (6.8 ppg), a Florida State softball commit who led the Cardinals softball team to a state title last month, and rising junior wing Meadow Umbenhauer, who averaged 4.6 ppg as a sophomore and also impressed Wednesday.
Umbenhauer is a slashing wing with good vision and playmaking/finishing ability for her size. Keep an eye on her and Sampson as they continue their careers.
Pine Grove swept Berks County teams during the season last year with wins over Schuylkill Valley (48-43), Kutztown (49-38), Fleetwood (61-31), Tulpehocken (73-36), and Hamburg (51-36).
Final Roll Call
Kutztown and Pine Grove were the top two teams at the invitational Wednesday and the matchups between the two that BGB had eyes on reflected that. Both teams played physical and were gunning for a statement win regardless of it being summertime.
In games where we caught the final score, the standings looked like this:
Pine Grove (2-0) with wins over Hamburg and Fleetwood.
Kutztown (2-0-1) with wins over Hamburg and Minersville and a tie with Fleetwood.
Hamburg (2-2) with wins over Fleetwood and Minersville and losses to Kutztown and Pine Grove.
Minersville (1-2) with a win over Fleetwood and losses to Kutztown and Hamburg.
Fleetwood (0-3-1) with losses to Hamburg, Minersville, and Pottsgrove and a tie with Kutztown.
Kutztown's only setback in games BGB had eyes on was a tie against Fleetwood, which was carried by rising freshman Kai-Lee Lamont, who continues to impress this offseason and appears to have a big role in line for her upcoming season with the Tigers. Lamont was hurt in the Tigers' final game of the night and didn't return.
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