Basketball and family are intertwined for Abington’s Cire Worley, a UMass Lowell recruit

For Cire Worley, basketball always made sense. Worley grew up in a basketball family, learning to love the sport that she has made a future out of.

Worley’s father, Eric, made a career in the Philadelphia basketball scene, having played at Central High School and West Chester University. Worley was a 1,000-point scorer for the Golden Rams and is a member of their Hall of Fame.

Eric Worley then spent time coaching in the Philadelphia area before eventually starting the Philly Triple Threat AAU program, of which he is the program director. He started the program after having trouble finding a competitive option for Cire’s older sister, Dianna Thomas-Palmer.

Thomas-Palmer — who played at Hofstra and now serves as an assistant coach at UMass Lowell — wasn’t Worley’s only source of basketball inspiration. Her cousin, Aaliyah Worley, played for Stony Brook. Cire Worley also credits her basketball development to spending time around the players in her father’s AAU program.

“That was always something I [knew],” she said. “My sister and I are kind of far apart in age, so I was able to experience her and her college journey [and] my cousin and her college journey. So I had a couple that came before me in my family to show what it was like to be a basketball player.”

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Growing up around the sport helped her develop an advanced basketball IQ. Paired with her above-average shooting ability, that knowledge helped her find the floor quickly at Abington.

“The second I saw her play when she came into tryouts her freshman year, I knew that she was special,” Ghosts coach Dan Marsh said. “She could score already. She was already an elite scorer as a freshman.”

Worley earned second-team All-Suburban One League honors in her first season with Abington, averaging 12.5 points per game in a scoring-focused role. She built on that freshman performance as a sophomore, averaging 16.5 points en route to winning first-team honors.

Offensive playmaking had always been a strength for Worley at Abington, but as she progressed, Marsh began to push her to develop into a more complete player. For Worley, that meant being equally as impactful on the defensive end. Compared to other programs in the SOL, Abington has a smaller roster: At 6 feet, Worley is the Ghosts’ tallest player. As a result, Marsh looked to Worley to grab more rebounds and play interior defense.

Much of Worley’s ability to add to her game quickly comes from the basketball knowledge she developed as a kid.

“Every year, she came back better and better,” Marsh said. “I think that’s just because she has a high basketball IQ, and she knew that if she wanted to play at the level she wants to play at, she couldn’t just be a scorer.”

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Though Worley has developed into a complete player as a senior, she has still served as the team’s primary scoring threat. She holds the program record for most points in a game (38), and she broke the school’s career scoring record on Sunday at 1,499 points. Worley also serves as the team’s leader, on and off the floor.

For Eric Worley, his daughter’s leadership skills don’t come as a surprise. He watched her gravitate toward the technical aspects of the game and develop an appreciation for the small things. He also believes that her leadership skills as Abington could be a glimpse of her future in the sport.

“I think she really wants to probably coach basketball,” Eric Worley said. “I think she’s going to be an amazing coach in the very near future because she has a great understanding of the game. I think [in terms of] overall leadership qualities and leadership abilities, she’s been a standup leader in her young life.”

Before that potential future in coaching, Cire Worley will continue her career as a player with UMass Lowell. Worley’s early success at Abington, as well as her performance on the Nike EYBL circuit with her Philly Rise AAU program, helped her draw Division I attention. Worley also had offers from St. Joseph’s and Drexel, as well as Coppin State and Delaware.

When it came time to decide on her basketball future, she leaned into what had helped her fall in love with the sport in the first place: her family. With her older sister serving as a coach for the River Hawks, Worley was able to build an early trust with the coaching staff.

“I think the coaching staff and seeing how they run things and operate [was important],” Worley said. “I know that I won’t have to worry about the coaching staff up there. … That was really something I was looking for, coaches that can set me up and coach me as a player.”

For Eric Worley, Cire’s time at UMass Lowell will be like a full-circle moment.

“As a father, that just kind of makes me feel good that I can have one daughter on the sideline coaching and one daughter on the sidelines playing,” Eric Worley said.