Basketball forged the Wilson sisters’ bond, and they’ll share the court again at West Point

It’s been an unusual summer for Brooke Wilson. With all the offseason basketball training sessions, some days the Archbishop Carroll rising senior feels lost. That’s because her partner and confidant is no longer there with her.

Her older sister, Taylor Wilson, a 6-foot forward, is off at training camp for six weeks at West Point, where she’ll further her basketball career and embark on a different path as a cadet.

It’s an adjustment for Brooke, who’s 15 months younger. Her best friend is no longer a bedroom away at their home in Bryn Mawr, and it marks the first time the two won’t play basketball on the same team since grade school.

But it won’t be for long.

Basketball has shaped the Wilson sisters’ friendship and made them respect each other as teammates. It bonded them so much that Brooke also will join Army’s women’s basketball program as a member of the class of 2024.

The Wilson family didn’t think it would be possible for their daughters to attend the same school, but they weren’t surprised when it became a reality. The two have always shared a connection on the court, and while their games are different, they carry a similar mindset.

“We both want to live our life with a purpose,” Brooke, a point guard, said of their commitment to West Point. “We want to have a purpose in our life. We want to make a difference, make a change, and we think that West Point will provide us with the resources and opportunities to do so.”

To Brooke, the moment she told Taylor she wanted to join her at Army best sums up their relationship.

Taylor’s second visit to West Point in June 2022 was the first time Brooke glimpsed the ethos of being part of something bigger than yourself that Taylor gushed over.

She couldn’t help but feel the same way, except Brooke wasn’t being recruited by West Point at the time. She didn’t want to take Taylor’s college moment away from her, so Brooke kept those feelings to herself.

» READ MORE: Archbishop Carroll’s Taylor Wilson commits to West Point challenge

Army coach Missy Traversi, though, had been eyeing Brooke since the summer of her junior year. The coach held off on making an offer to her until the time was right, however, and after checking with Taylor.

In March, Taylor got a call from Traversi asking how she would feel if Army made an offer to Brooke. Without hesitation, Taylor responded, “I would love to play with her,” her parents, Jen and David Wilson, recalled.

Brooke, though, didn’t know about that conversation. She was sitting in her room when she got a call from a coach that gave her butterflies. Ten minutes later, Brooke walked downstairs. Her family was in the kitchen, and when they turned to Brooke, they were struck by tears streaming down her face.

“Brooke, what’s going on? Why are you crying?” her parents asked. She’d received the college scholarship offer she‘d been hoping for. But first, Brooke looked at Taylor, who also was crying, for her reaction.

“Brooke said, ‘I’ll commit right now,’” David said. “Taylor gets up, goes over to her, and says, ‘You don’t know how happy you just made me.’ It was a pretty special moment.”

Added Brooke: “That story kind of shows how strong our connection is, how much we love each other. Also how similar we are in our work ethic, just our connection as sisters, and also as basketball players.”

They always wanted to share the spotlight. More than that, they wanted to help each other improve. When Brooke and Taylor started their basketball journey with the Lower Delco Wildcats, Brooke played up an age group on the fifth-grade team.

Brooke admired Taylor’s skill set and saw her as a mentor. She became Brooke’s second coach that year, giving her honest feedback — that maybe she didn’t always need — that helped build her game immensely, Brooke said.

“They’re really good teammates,” said Renie Shields, Carroll’s basketball coach. “That’s one thing you’ll notice, like when they played with [Ss.] Colman-John Neumann School [for CYO]. It’s never all Taylor or all Brooke, and that speaks volumes for who they are.”

Thanks to a deep knowledge of each others’ games, they were the Patriots’ top two scorers last season. Brooke could deliver a pass to Taylor from anywhere on the court, even in tough coverage, but some plays just came from their sisterly intuition.

But it isn’t always easy playing with a sibling, especially during rough stretches. Taylor and Brooke don’t usually argue, but they had moments on the court that would linger into the car ride. When they walked through their front door, though, those disagreements were put aside.

A midseason stretch exemplified their cooperation. The Patriots, who finished 15-12, were in a slump. They fell to Lansdale Catholic in the Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals, and it was hard to bounce back. Taylor and Brooke butted heads at one point, but if they wanted to turn the season around, they needed to work together.

The first step was getting everyone on the same page. Taylor, who was one of the captains, worked with the seniors while Brooke tried to coordinate with the underclassmen. That approach led them to the PIAA Class 6A championship in Hershey, where they took home a 43-37 victory over Cedar Cliff and the program’s first state title in 11 years.

“Our happiest moments together are winning games together,” Brooke said. “Winning the state championship together, so I’m just happy that I’m able to get three more years with Taylor playing basketball, because it’s really more than anything I wanted, and I don’t want anything other than that.”

Taylor has started her training with Army. She won’t have access to a phone for three weeks, and there’s a strict schedule for visits. This summer already has been difficult for Brooke, and she knows her final season at Carroll will look different without her big sister by her side.

However, Taylor’s guidance has prepared her for this moment, Brooke said. If there’s one lesson she has learned from Taylor, it’s leadership.

“For many years, it’s been Taylor and Brooke,” Shields said. “But I see [Brooke] saying, ‘All right, I got this,’ and I see her working with the other girls to kind of bring them along just like Taylor brought Brooke along.”