La Salle’s Molly Masciantonio is about making memories and good vibes on the court

Molly Masciantonio is warm, personable, and almost impossibly smiley. Her eyes light up when she talks about basketball and her career at La Salle, and it’s no surprise as to why.

“I grew up loving basketball since the age of 4,” she said. “My parents knew right when I picked up a basketball that I was going to be playing. It didn’t matter what division, anything, I wanted to keep playing it.”

After an excellent run at Archbishop Carroll, where she was three-time All-Catholic, two-time All-Delco, two-time All-Mainline, and one-time All-State, Masciantonio got her collegiate basketball start at Holy Family University. Following her freshman season at the Division II program, the 5-foot-10 guard transferred to La Salle.

“I grew up going to all the Big 5 school games,” said Masciantonio, a Morton, Delaware County native. “So when La Salle reached out and I spoke with the coaches, I knew that this was exactly where I wanted to be. I love the city; I love the coaches. They felt like family, and I just had to stay local and choose La Salle.”

“Family” is a pretty accurate descriptor for the women’s basketball team for this upcoming season. After not being able to spend an ample amount of time together outside of practices and games last season, this more normal season, and specifically the environment at La Salle, is setting up this team for success.

“We’re very prepared,” said Masciantonio, who scored 7.7 points per game in her first season for La Salle. “Last year, we weren’t able to work out in the summer, so we had to start a little later than usual. But having this summer really prepared us for this moment. We’re getting in shape; we’re getting stronger. I think we’re prepared and excited for it to start.

“Our team is actually really close this year. We all get along. I’m closest with Kayla Spruill — she’s a senior too — and Jaye Haynes. She’s a local too, so we were here all summer, just us two, building bonds.”

That bond construction extends to the coaches.

“They are like family to us,” she said. “We see them every day ... most of the people here have been playing together since two years, three years ago, so having them every year just keep building stronger bonds and having connections with them on and off the court. Off the court, mental health and all that is just as important as on the court, and they’ve been the mediators to our family. They help us to stay together and be positive.

“I think because it is a small school, we have a lot of support. Grades-wise, schoolwork, you make stronger bonds when there’s less people and less distractions, so it’s nice to have that support system being a smaller school and being together.”

COVID-19 made it difficult to have that sense of community last season, but Masciantonio only used that to fuel her passion for the sport even further. Even though there weren’t fans cheering in the stands, she knew that there were still plenty of people keeping up with the games and rooting for La Salle to do well from home.

“Obviously, we didn’t like how it was,” she said of fans not being at games. “But I personally was grateful that we were even able to play. It does matter about fans, but your sport is your sport, and you should love playing it. I know some conferences and divisions couldn’t play their sport, so I was lucky just to be able to play.”

So what does that mean for this season, where she’s stepping into the team as one of the most experienced names and brightest stars on the roster?

“Obviously, we want to win, that’s our main goal,” she said, a smile forming on her face. “I’m trying to be a vocal leader, I have a new position this year as a point guard, so I’m trying to be ... kind of a role model so the younger girls can look up to me. So far, the vibe has been amazing at practice. Everyone’s been cheering, it’s just good vibes this year, so I’m trying to keep it up.”

Masciantonio quotes head coach Mountain MacGillivray, “‘Be where your feet are.’ So if I’m in class, I focus on class. You don’t worry about basketball, you don’t worry about other off-court stuff. If you’re on the court, you worry about on the court. If you’re home, you focus in on your family. That’s really what helped me.”

Masciantonio might not be a coach herself, but she has some inspiring words of her own for young female players that love basketball just as much as a young Masciantonio did all those years ago.

She would tell them, “Keep doing it until you don’t like it anymore. Never feel pressured to do something you don’t want to do, but if you love it, keep going. And you are going to have a lot of people who say you can’t do it and struggles along the way, but if you keep going, it will be worth it.”

As for herself, Masciantonio’s personal goals are relatively simple.

“I just want to not have any regrets, I want to put everything on the court, make memories,” she said. “Because time flies, you know, I’m already a senior. [Not too long ago], it felt like I was a freshman or senior in high school. So it’s just about making memories and getting better.”