The Eberz sisters make up 60% of Archbishop Carroll’s starting five. For them, basketball is a family tradition.

When Kayla Eberz was 8, she won a Christmas raffle at Sacred Heart School. The prize was a 32-inch TV, which she tried to plug into an outlet, thinking she could just flip through channels. It didn’t work. Her father, Eric, brought up a VHS and some tapes.

They were tapes from 30 years ago. Kayla and her twin sister, Kelsey, popped one in and were immediately entranced. They called over their older sister, Alexis, and the girls camped out in front of the big screen.

They watched as their father — a former forward for Villanova — emphatically slammed dunks and drained threes in the Big East tournament. They watched as their mother — a former guard for Villanova — relentlessly got in the face of every player who tried to score.

It was the first time the sisters had seen their parents play. And there was only word to describe it.

“Humbling,” Kayla said.

This was a fair reaction. Michele and Eric are in Villanova’s hall of fame. From 1991 to 1995, Michele — then known as Michele Thornton — collected 409 career assists (ninth in school history) and 1,261 points (21st in school history).

Eric, who played from 1992 to 1996, is one of only 48 men in Villanova’s history to amass at least 1,300 career points. He finished with 1,397, which ranks 39th on the school’s all-time scoring list.

Now, more than two decades later, their daughters are keeping the family tradition alive. And they’re doing it on the same team, at the same time. Kelsey and Kayla, 15, are freshmen at Archbishop Carroll. Alexis, 17, is a junior. All three are starters for the Patriots.

“We’re encouraging them to really have fun the next two years,” Eric said, “because this is pretty cool, and not too many people get to experience it.”

Eric and Michele met at Villanova and got married at Villanova, so it was no surprise that they raised their kids at Finneran Pavilion. The Eberz sisters — along with their 6-year-old brother, Eric — frequently attended alumni events and games. Former men’s coach Jay Wright used to cohost a radio show at J.D. McGillicuddy’s, a local restaurant partially owned by Eric. His daughters usually tagged along.

“We’d obviously take notes,” Alexis said.

They were not passive participants. Whenever the girls would attend games, they’d focus on one player and try to learn something from them. Alexis’ favorites were Maddy Siegrist for her fadeaway and Jalen Brunson for his ballhandling.

Kayla liked Donte DiVincenzo for his hustle, while Kelsey preferred Ryan Arcidiacono for his selfless style of play.

“He was a good all-around player,” Kelsey said. “He’d always pass the ball. It’s good to try to bring that into your game.”

Said Alexis: “We would find someone we’d want to emulate. Focus on one player that you see yourself in, see what they do well, and get tips off of them.”

Over time, they began to work with some of these players one-on-one. Alexis still trains with Siegrist and says she has a “strong connection with” the now-Dallas Wings forward. She’s also shot with guard Lucy Olsen before she transferred to Iowa and current Villanova guard Maddie Burke.

All three sisters work out with former Villanova coach Harry Perretta, who coached Michele in the 1990s, and their grandfather, Tom Thornton, who was an assistant coach under Perretta for 10 years at Villanova.

» READ MORE: Marc Jackson and Aaron McKie were Sixers teammates. Now their sons are thriving in the Catholic League.

“Harry will be real with you,” Kayla said. “He’ll tell you if you had a bad game or good game. He and my Pop-Pop would always get us into the gyms. Those two would always work us out, either at Villanova, or we would have a small gym we’d go to just to get a lot of shots up.”

It has been quite a basketball education, one they do not take for granted. But above all, the sisters have learned from their parents. Alexis is a prolific three-point shooter, like her father. Kayla and Kelsey are aggressive defenders, like their mother.

“I think Lex plays like me,” Eric said. “These two play more like Michele. She was a good defender. I was never a good defender.”

Added Michele: “I wanted to stop the best player, and Kelsey wants to stop the best player. Kayla, offensively, wants to take it to you. All three of them are relentless.”

» READ MORE: Maddy Siegrist has Villanova’s scoring mark, and a special bond with Sister Rose Marie, the old record-holder | from 2023

This isn’t the first time the Eberz sisters have overlapped on a team. They also played together in the Springfield summer league a few years ago. But this is easily the highest level in which they’ve competed as a group. And the early results are promising.

The sisters often are Carroll’s highest scorers. In the Patriots' first win of the season, on Dec. 8 against Imhotep Charter, Alexis finished with 20 points, Kayla added 15, and Kelsey had seven.

On Dec. 14, while competing at the She Got Game tournament in Washington, the three combined for more than half of Carroll’s 48 points in a loss to Sidwell Friends. The next day, they combined for 37 of Carroll’s 44 points in a win over Catholic High School of Virginia Beach, Va.

» READ MORE: Father Judge has become a top basketball team in the area and looks ‘to win everything’

According to stats provided by Archbishop Carroll, so far this season, Alexis is averaging 15.3 points and 5.4 rebounds with 89 assists, Kayla is averaging 10.7 points and 4.8 rebounds, and Kelsey is averaging 5.3 points and 3.2 rebounds.

It is early in the season, and there is still work to be done, particularly with passing. There are times when Alexis is trying to cut for an open shot, only to find that her sisters aren’t getting the ball to her on time. Michele and Eric have encouraged Alexis to be patient as her sisters adjust to a faster, more advanced style.

“They’ll come in the back door, and you’ll know if the practice was good or bad,” Michele said. “When Alexis gets missed by one of her younger sisters, we try to remind her that they’re going to catch up. It’ll come.”

Added Eric: “They get frustrated sometimes with each other, but that’s just a part of being sisters.”

Nevertheless, it has been a surreal and special experience, one that won’t last forever. Alexis has received more than a dozen scholarship offers — including one from Villanova — and should make her decision sometime this year.

So the sisters will try to soak in as much as they can over the next two seasons — while staying on their best behavior.

“The biggest thing right now is to be patient,” Michele said. “And don’t make faces to each other on the court. There are people watching.”