Pennsbury guard Ava Sciolla, a coach’s daughter, is prepared to put in the work at Maryland

Ava Sciolla had missed the first few calls from her father. It was the July after Sciolla’s sophomore year, and the Pennsbury High basketball star was at a friend’s house, relaxing after returning home from an AAU tournament in Indianapolis.

Sciolla called her father back, wondering what was wrong. When Frank Sciolla answered the call, his voice was shaky as he delivered the news.

“He said exactly this: ‘I need you to take a deep breath. Coach Frese from Maryland is about to call you. She’s going to offer you a scholarship,’” Ava Sciolla said.

Sciolla was shocked. Maryland is a women’s college basketball powerhouse, and coach Brenda Frese has one of the best résumés in the sport. It was the 6-foot guard’s first offer from a major Power 5 program. It wouldn’t be the last offer the Fairless Hills native would receive, however, as Sciolla eventually drew offers from Arkansas, Northwestern, Dayton and Drexel, among others.

While it was her performance on the Nike EYBL circuit that spurred Frese to make the formal offer, it was Sciolla’s efforts at Pennsbury that helped put her on the map. She had been a starter for the Falcons since Day 1, and, more than that, she’d served as an on-court leader right away.

After four years with the Falcons, Sciolla will leave Pennsbury as one of the program’s most decorated players. The four-time first-team All-League and two-time All-State honoree helped lead the Falcons to three Suburban One League titles. Sciolla also reached 1,000 points quicker than any player in program history. The point guard did all that under the tutelage of her father, Frank, the Falcons’ coach.

But despite living within walking distance of Pennsbury, the Maryland signee almost didn’t end up wearing the Falcons’ signature orange.

Before taking over the Pennsbury girls’ program in 2016, Frank Sciolla spent two decades coaching the boys’ teams at Pennsbury, Bristol Borough and Conwell-Egan. Each of those three jobs had been rebuilds, and after 20 years, he was preparing to retire from coaching altogether. At that same time, the Pennsbury girls’ job opened, and he seemed like the perfect candidate to help rebuild a program that was coming off a four-win season and that had just eight girls in total.

Frank was hesitant, however, since he knew that accepting the job would put pressure on Ava, then a seventh-grader, to attend Pennsbury. While the family’s proximity to Pennsbury might have made attending the school seem like a no-brainer, Sciolla’s 20 years in Philadelphia college basketball helped him realize there was more to the decision.

“We told her to go and to visit other schools,” Frank said. “Even though we live out here in Fairless Hills, there was a thought of potentially going to Archbishop Wood, where she could go somewhere and not have to worry about being perfect and not have to worry about making every shot and not being face-guarded or double-teamed the second she got off the bus.

“Those were all things that I saw down the road because I’d been fortunate to have coached NBA guys, guys that are still playing in Europe. I knew what players like her have to face.”

Frank had taken the Pennsbury job with the intention of coaching for a year or two. He would help rebuild the program and bridge the gap to the next coach but would step away before Ava made her way to high school. Though he might not have intended on coaching Ava initially, she knew early on that she wasn’t ready to be done playing for her father yet.

That wasn’t the only factor in her decision to stay home with Pennsbury. The summer before eighth grade, Ava had a conversation with family friend Kurt Bergmann, a former player from Frank’s time as the Pennsbury boys coach. In that conversation, the young guard began to realize the impact she could have if she chose to be a part of the Falcons’ rebuilding effort.

“He said to me, ‘Would you rather go somewhere that wins and be a puzzle piece in a program that’s already fantastic, or would you want to go somewhere and be the person that builds the puzzle?’” Ava said. “That kind of stuck with me. I thought that it would be a lot more fun to help build a program and be a part of a program that hasn’t been successful in a little while.”

Playing with Pennsbury allowed Sciolla to showcase an on-court versatility that Frese cited as one of the best parts of the young guard’s game. Despite being the tallest player in the Falcons’ starting five, Sciolla manned the point guard position. Without tall frontcourt players to dish the ball to down low, Sciolla had to learn to identify tight passing lanes and be creative in spreading the ball. She also had to learn how to rebound her position, something that will come in handy when she plays in physical Big Ten matchups.

Those skills, paired with the intangibles Sciolla showed when leading Pennsbury, made her a target for Frese, who has assembled 16 top-15 recruiting classes in her time at Maryland.

“She’s got a really high basketball IQ,” Frese said. “She’s versatile, can play multiple positions … She plays the right way, scores when she needs to score, but also knows how to make the right play to get her teammates involved.

“She led her high school team to new heights, something that’s never been done before. I really believe that the transition to the next level, she’s going to continue to bring those championship qualities.”

Also key in Sciolla’s transition to the college game is her experience in handling adversity. She suffered a high ankle sprain that sidelined her for much of her junior AAU season. Sciolla had been a key rotation player and one of the first off the bench in games. When she returned, the rotation was set, and, for the first time in her career, Sciolla found herself battling to earn minutes.

Fortunately for Sciolla, she already was committed to Maryland at the time of her injury. Instead of worrying about the consequences her injury would have on her recruitment, she had an extra support system in Frese and the rest of the Terrapins staff. The process was still a challenge, though, and it wasn’t until the final two games of the season that Sciolla was able to work her way back into the rotation.

“I know that I needed it,” Sciolla said. “It was absolutely necessary for me because I’m going to go to Maryland next year and have that same exact fight. I know that it was so crucial for me to experience that prior to going into college, so I know how I have to work.”

After Pennsbury’s season ended in a PIAA Class 6A state quarterfinals loss to Cedar Cliff, Sciolla was selected to play in the Philadelphia All Star Labor Classic on Sunday at Ridley High and the Philadelphia All American Senior Showcase on May 27 at Neumann University. After that, she’ll step into her future at a program coming off consecutive Sweet 16 appearances and a place she knows is special.

“I always knew,” Sciolla said. “From the moment they offered me and we had [that] first conversation, I felt like Maryland would be my home.”