Here are the college hoops commits backfilling City 6 programs during the NCAA’s early signing period

There’s a brief distraction cutting into the first week of college basketball. It’s the NCAA’s early signing period running, Nov. 9-16. The regular signing period runs from April 12 to May 17, 2023.

Here’s a rundown of 18 players from the 2023 class who gave early commitments to City 6 programs.

Maddie Webber signed her letter of intent Wednesday morning at South Fayette High School in Allegheny County, Pa.

Head coach Denise Dillon added the 5-foot-9 pure shooter who is thought to play with a more looming presence than her frame suggests. She chose the Wildcats over St. John’s, Penn, Kent State, Boston University, Duquesne, East Carolina and Massachusetts.

Brynn McCurry is Villanova’s other 2023 signee. The Sparta High School (N.J.) wing stands 6-1 and is best known as a shot creator both for herself and her teammates. She was named first-team All-State and New Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

Webber and McCurry are expected to round out the future of Villanova women’s basketball alongside current freshmen Megan Olbrys and Abigail Jegede.

First-year coach Diane Richardson tabbed her first signing of the 2023 class in Jaleesa Molina, a 6-2 wing from The Hague, Netherlands. She played for the Orange Lions Academy, averaging 6.8 points and 6.3 rebounds.

Molina represented Holland at the FIBA Under-18 Women’s European Championships Division B in Bulgaria this year. She has also played professionally for the Landslake Lions, a Dutch basketball club in North Holland.

St. Joe’s is getting a pair of close friends in its 2023 signing class. Penn Charter’s Aleah Snead and Gabby Casey from Lansdale Catholic each verbally committed two weeks apart earlier this year.

Hawks coach Cindy Griffin was first to offer Snead a scholarship during her sophomore year. She’s now a 5-11 elite scorer and a catalyst for the Quakers’ first Inter-Ac championship since 1998, averaging 15.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 steals.

Casey is a 5-8 point guard who averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game while leading the Crusaders to a deep PIAA Class 4A run, halted at the championship game by Archbishop Wood.

La Salle’s signing class is the largest of any area school, signing Amber Bullard, Hailey Chiles and Nicole Melious.

Bullard comes from The Christian Academy in Brookhaven, Delaware County, and was La Salle’s first signee. The 6-3 forward verbally committed to the Explorers in June.

Her journey has been one of resiliency. She started her high school career at Plymouth Whitemarsh before transferring as a sophomore. That’s when she started playing organized basketball. Last season she averaged 15.6 points per game while earning first-team All-Bicentennial Athletic League Constitution Division honors.

» READ MORE: This his how Amber Bullard landed at La Salle

Chiles, a native of Greenwood, South Carolina, was the Explorers’ second 2023 signee. Like Bullard, she is also a 6-3 forward, giving La Salle some height with its incoming class. Chiles was selected to the first team All-Lakelands.

The Explorers bolstered their backcourt by adding Nicole Melious, who hails from Staten Island’s Susan Wagner High School. The 5-8 sniper originally chose Georgia Tech but de-committed in favor of being closer to home.

Melious averaged a whopping 39.1 points per game her junior season and has twice been named the Warren Jaques Award winner, honoring Staten Island’s best female hooper. The New York Sportswriters Association also named her Class AA Player of the Year this past season.

Aryss Macktoon committed to La Salle just last month. The 5-10 Catonsville, Md native is an effective two-way player who led St. Timothy’s in every major statistical category.

UnCovered Prospects described her as a “problem defensively and on the glass. Shows ability for a nice mid-range game and finishes at a high clip around the rim.”

Penn picked up two 2023 commitments, including Plymouth Whitemarsh guard Abby Sharpe.

On July 5, Tina Njike, from Skyline High School (Salt Lake City, Utah) committed. The 6-3 center was named to Utah’s 5A First Team averaging a double-double with 17.4 points and 11.8 rebounds per game.

Njike is adept at finishing through traffic and has a knack for finding the ball off the rim. When she steps onto Penn’s West Philly campus, Njike will tie for being the second tallest Quaker.

Zion Stanford is upholding a trend of players staying in Philly under fourth-year coach Aaron McKie.

Temple is getting a versatile wing who jumps at opportunities to cover an opposing team’s best player. He averaged 14.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game for West Catholic. All while shooting 59.6% from the field and a steady 36.7% from three.

The 6-5, 195-pound wing helped lead the Burrs to a 21-6 record (12-1 in Public League) and the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals. He chose the Owls over offers from Boston College, Drexel, St. Joseph’s, Bryant and Albany.

Penn’s signing class is the largest of any area school.

Sam Brown (Lower Merion), Niklas Polonowski (Lyons Township High School), Tyler Perkins (Landon School) and Augustus Gerhart (The Hill School) – all two-star recruits. Brown and Gerhart are both local. Polonowski is from LaGrange, Illinois and Perkins hails from Bethesda, Maryland.

The Quakers are only one year removed from the Ivy League canceling its season due to COVID. Steve Donahue’s group is projected to finish atop the conference in this year’s preseason poll, led by junior guard Jordan Dingle.

There’s a lot of excitement on Hawk Hill surrounding the 2023 class, which consists of three local products: Xzayvier Brown, Anthony Finkley and Shawn Simmons.

Brown, the point guard, and Finkley, his big man, share the floor at Roman Catholic with a discernible chemistry on and off the hardwood dating back to fourth grade. Brown is a dynamic point guard who chose St. Joe’s because he said it felt like family – it literally is considering his step-father Justin Scott is an assistant coach.

Finkley played two seasons at West Catholic before transferring to Huntington Prep (West Virginia) then the Cahillites. Due to mid-season transfer rules, the 6-6, 225-pound forward sat out his junior year. Simmons is originally from Wynnewood, up the street from Hawk Hill. He transferred from Friends Central to Hillcrest Prep in Gilbert, Ariz. but is eager to play college ball close to home.

Drexel coach Zach Spiker was the first coach to extend an offer to Horace Simmons. And that was a major reason Simmons announced his commitment to the Dragons in August.

Last season, Simmons averaged 14.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and two assists playing for La Salle College High School in the Catholic League. His performance earned him second-team All-Catholic honors.