Basketball
Favorite athlete: Tyrese Maxey
Favorite team: 76ers
Favorite memory competing in sports: My first district playoff win against West Chester Henderson last year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My teammate made a TikTok of all our falls in our first game.
Music on playlist: Taylor Swift
Future plans: Undecided on college but I want to major in physical therapy.
Words to live by: “All it takes is all you got.” (The saying on the back of all our basketball t-shirts)
One goal before turning 30: Visit my family in Hawaii.
One thing people don’t know about me: I love painting.
By Mary Jane Souder
Every team needs a Mackenzie Erb. In fact, everybody needs a Mackenzie Erb in their life.
The Central Bucks South senior, it seems, is beloved by all who cross her path. Not because she’s a star athlete, although she is a four-year starter for the basketball team. Not because of anything heroic she’s done but rather because of who she is.
“Mack is probably the kindest, nicest soul of any person I’ve ever taught or coached,” South coach Beth Mattern said. “I don’t think she has an enemy.”
A two-year captain of the basketball team, Erb has had a tougher than expected fall and winter, suffering a concussion in late October and, more recently, going down with a high ankle sprain that is sidelining Erb for at least two weeks.
The concussion occurred during a fall preseason game, and her coach has not forgotten the chilling sound of Erb’s head hitting the court at the University of the Sciences.
“It was a hard play – she hit the floor, and the back of her head just whipped against the ground,” Mattern said. “It was instantaneous. She was screeching and holding her head.
“You could just tell she wasn’t right. I’ve had kids hit their heads before, get injured before, but this just felt different to me because she was very animated, and you could hear the thud in the gym. Even when she finally was able to relax and we got her to the side, she just wasn’t Mack. She was very out of it. It’s the first time I really saw a concussion do that so immediately to someone.”
The Titans’ coach is no stranger to concussions, and she won’t soon forget this one, but what left an even greater impression on Mattern was the response of her players to Erb’s injury.
“There were just so many different layers to (the injury), but what I also remember is the look on my players’ faces,” Mattern said. “Their chins dropped, and they were just staring – ‘Oh my god, what do we do?’
“Mack is such a genuine, caring, nice person, and I think part of her getting injured is you know that about her, and when we all saw her go down with a concussion and how she responded – no one wishes that on her. I think most everyone would say – I wish that was me instead of her because she’s just so kind. That’s how I felt – why Mack?”
The journey back from the concussion was not an easy one, and Erb still remembers going down.
“It was awful – just the impact,” she said. “I was so dizzy, the lights were bright, and I could barely see anything. I got off the court. They sat me in a chair and took my shoes off. My eyes were closed the whole time. Someone put ice on my head. I didn’t even know what was going on in the game. I was so discombobulated.”
Erb, an excellent student, was out of school for a week.
“I’ve never missed more school than that in my whole life,” she said. “Going back, I was still getting headaches. The first two days I only went for half days.
“I was a week behind, so I wasn’t able to catch up on all the work because I would go home after two classes and sleep. I would have to rest because I just couldn’t focus on anything for super long.”
The symptoms persisted for several weeks, forcing Erb to miss the final weeks of preseason, but she cleared the concussion protocol in time to get back for basketball tryouts.
“I didn’t want to miss that much because we had a pretty rigorous preseason, and we had so much to get done to be ready for the season,” Erb said. “Having to miss that was tough because I didn’t want to fall behind my teammates, I didn’t want to let anyone down.
“I’ve been excited for this year since sophomore year because we’ve grown so much as a team, and we’ve become so close because we’ve all been playing together for so long.”
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Erb – like many youngsters – got her first taste of competitive sports playing soccer.
“I did not last long at all,” she said. “I didn’t like the running part of it when I was younger.
“I played softball for a little while. My dad is a big baseball/softball guy, and both of my siblings do that. I played volleyball, and I really liked that too. I was going to try out to play volleyball for South, but then I ended up not doing it because I wanted to be able to do preseason for basketball, so I stopped volleyball.”
Erb got her start playing basketball inhouse for Warrington Warwick Girls Basketball. From there, it was travel and then she joined the AAU circuit.
When she arrived at South, Erb and fellow freshman Taylor Hinkle found themselves thrust into the starting lineup of a team that featured then senior standout Alexa Brodie, who is now excelling at Colgate University.
“We all meet with the coaches, and they tell you what team you make and say a little about you,” Erb recalled. “They told me I potentially had a starting spot freshman year.
“That is really scary when you’re playing with someone like Alexa and you feel like you have a big role to fill. It’s a big responsibility, but the team was really great, and we all supported each other.”
The following year Erb and Hinkle were ‘veterans’ on a young Titans’ squad that started three sophomores.
“It was tough, and it was negative at times, and being able to pull ourselves out of that – it was hard,” Erb said. “It was really a team effort to try and keep things positive.”
This is the year Erb and her teammates have been pointing to, and the Titans are in the midst of a successful season, currently 13th in the District One 6A power rankings in what will be a 24-team field.
“Mack is definitely a leader,” Mattern said. “She has the ability to score – she can shoot the three, she can make a post move, so she’s diverse in what she brings.
“Defensively, she can guard a shooting guard but she’ll guard a post. She’s not afraid to get in there. She can help us in multiple ways. We have to remind her to be offensive-minded sometimes, but when she remembers, she’s definitely helped us in big situations.”
The script was going as planned until Erb rolled her ankle in the Titans’ game at Council Rock South, a come-from-behind Titans’ win.
“It was so painful – the trainer came and looked at it, and it was already huge,” Erb said of an injury diagnosed as a high ankle sprain. “I knew it was bad. They said I’d be out about two weeks – I should be able to play either the last couple of games or playoffs depending on what the doctor says.
“It’s just really upsetting honestly because we have important games coming up that we need to do well in, and not being able to be part of that is hard. From the sidelines, I try to cheer on the team. I try to keep everyone’s head up and participate where I can talking-wise.”
“Again, it was hard to see Mack get hurt because you know her as a person,” Mattern said. “Obviously, you don’t want to see anyone get hurt, but she’s just too sweet for something bad to happen to her.”
And where does Erb’s always-be-kind-to-others approach to life come from?
“I would say it’s probably from my parents,” she said. “Like my mom – she doesn’t say a bad word about anybody. She’s just always so rational, she always sees the other side of everything, and I like to do that.”
A member of the National Honor Society, Erb, who takes AP classes, is undecided on a college but plans to pursue a physical therapy major.
“I’ve been around physical therapists all my life,” she said. “Both of my siblings needed physical therapy when they were younger, and I know a bunch of people that have gotten hurt and needed it.
“I just think it’s really interesting. I want to be able to help people in the way I know other people have been helped.”
For now, Erb has her sights set on returning to the court, which is exactly where Mattern hopes she will be as the season comes down the home stretch.
“This season of late she’s been a little bit grittier,” the Titans’ coach said. “She’s been getting steals on defense. I feel like she was playing the best basketball she has for us, so that’s also harder for her when you feel like you’re doing well and now an ankle injury bites her.
“Mack is quiet – she’s not flashy. She wants to do a very good job, she wants to work hard, but she doesn’t want attention. She does really well in school, and she has a great personality and attitude about life in general. She’s the best.”
