Big 5 women’s basketball awards: St. Joe’s Talya Brugler named CoBL’s preseason player of the year

Who’s ready for college hoops?

The start of the 2023-24 season — City of Basketball Love’s 11th year of coverage and its first as partners with The Inquirer — is still six weeks away. But this week marks the official start of preseason.

Here are the Big 5 women’s basketball preseason awards:

After a few years of Maddy Siegrist dominance, the playing field for the area women’s player of the year is much more even. But there’s no doubt that Brugler has the strongest case. The 6-foot-1 junior forward from Nazareth, Pa., has been a major piece for the Hawks since the first game of her freshman year and has only gotten better since.

After averaging 10.6 points and 5.7 rebounds in her first year of collegiate basketball, Brugler took a significant step forward as a sophomore. She averaged 16.7 points, which is the highest of any returning area player this year, and she did it while improving her shooting numbers from 50.4% to 52.7%. She failed to hit double figures in scoring only three times last season.

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This award is designed for someone who goes from role player to star. O’Neill has an opportunity to take a major step forward in her output for the Dragons this season. The 5-7 sophomore guard was one of the best high school players at Archbishop Carroll, then jumped into a starting role at Drexel, though with Keishana Washington and Kylie Lavelle around she became the third offensive option. Drexel brought in some transfers to help compensate for the loss of that pair, but O’Neill should take the reins as the team’s go-to offensive option.

Honorable mention: Stina Almqvist (Jr., Penn), Emma Egan (Soph., La Salle), Julia Nyström (Jr., St. Joe’s), Ines Piper (Jr., Temple), and Emilee Tahata (Jr., La Salle).

A 5-8 guard from Staten Island, N.Y., Melious comes to La Salle with quite the resumé. She’s the all-time leading scorer in New York City history — boys and girls combined. She scored 3,140 points in three seasons at Susan E. Wagner High School. The Explorers had to replace seven of their eight leading scorers from last season. There’s a huge opportunity for Melious to bring her high scoring to the college courts.

Honorable mention: Gabby Casey (St. Joe’s), Laine McGurk (Drexel), Tristen Taylor (Temple), and Maddie Webber (Villanova).

Masciantonio, a 5-10 point guard, enters her sixth year of college hoops and fifth with the Explorers. The former Archbishop Carroll standout, who started her career at Holy Family, led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.72) by a wide margin. She averaged 6.0 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.6 rebounds last season. She’s a top-notch defender as well and averaged 2.1 steals the past two years.

One of the top scorers in the Coastal Athletic Association for two years at Towson, Nelson brought her electrifying game with her to Temple as she followed Owls head coach Diane Richardson to North Broad. The 5-6 guard, who enters her final season of college hoops, averaged 15.4 points, 4.4 assists, and 3.3 rebounds in 37 minutes per game last season, shouldering a massive load for Temple.

As a second team All-Ivy League selection the last two years, Obi is the primary option for the Quakers following Kayla Padilla’s graduation. Obi enters her senior year well within striking distance of 1,000 points (currently at 729). She averaged 13.3 points over her first two seasons. The 6-1 forward has improved immensely, especially in three-point shooting (28.8% to 35.5%).

Olsen’s been preparing to be the Wildcats’ primary offensive option and on-court leader for two years. The 5-9 Spring-Ford product has started all 70 games in her college career. She averaged 12.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.4 assists last season while helping ‘Nova to a Sweet 16 appearance. The junior starred in the NCAA Tournament, scoring a career-high 23 points with 10 rebounds and seven assists against Florida Gulf Coast.

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For the second year in a row, the Hawks had a freshman forward become a major key to their success. Ziegler, who’s from Herlev, Denmark, started 30 of 31 games in her rookie season, averaging 11.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists. The 6-2 sophomore was Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Year and third-team all-Atlantic 10.

All-Big 5 second team: O’Neill, Maddie Burke (Sr., Villanova), Christina Dalce (Jr., Villanova), Tiarra East (Jr., Temple), Tarriyonna Gary (Sr., Temple), and Mackenzie Smith (Jr., St. Joe’s).

This story was produced as part of a partnership between the Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.