Ava Sciolla became the sixth female to reach the 1,000-point mark at Pennsbury. (Photos provided by Pennsbury basketball)
Ava Sciolla grew up with a basketball in her hand.
So it’s hardly surprising that the Pennsbury junior had high aspirations. One of them was the reach the elusive 1,000-point milestone.
“Growing up with my dad as the (Pennsbury) boys’ coach, I had the opportunity to see some amazing players reach that accolade,” Sciolla said. “It’s always been in the back of my mind.
“I feel every basketball player thinks about that. It’s an accomplishment that shows our hard work and just how bad we want it, so it’s been in the back of my mind.”
Sciolla entered her junior season needing around 250 points.
“I knew it was in the future, but it was a matter of whether it would be this year or next because of the corona season,” she said.
It turned out to be this year. The junior standout turned an inbounds pass from teammate and close friend Bella Arcuri into the historic basket when she hit nothing but net on a 3-pointer midway through the first quarter of the Falcons’ non-league win at Wissahickon on Feb. 26.
“I definitely was nervous, more nervous than I usually am for games just because it’s in the back of my head,” Sciolla said. “I think those nerves during warm-ups kind of turned into – it’s going to happen, not is it going to happen. I just came out firing and my teammates were looking for me like they always do.
“We ran an inbounds play that I actually used to run with my old AAU team. Bella found me, and Mia (Spinelli) set a great screen, and it happened. To be honest, initially when I made the shot, I didn’t even think about that it was my thousandth. I just start to backpedal until I made eye contact with Bella, and she had this look in her eyes and was charging me. Then I realized – ‘Oh, I just got it.’ Everyone was running at me, and it was a great feeling.”
The game was halted. Sciolla accepted the hugs and congratulations of her teammates, gave the basketball to her mother, and the game resumed.
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“The Wissahickon athletic department and their team were so amazing and so accommodating,” she said. “I’m so appreciative.”
Sciolla is the sixth Pennsbury female to reach the 1,000-point milestone, the first to accomplish that feat since Sajanna Bethea did it in 2013 and also the fastest to reach the milestone.
“Ava was never someone that we thought about when it came to a scoring mark as she grew up – she was always a playmaker,” said her father and coach, Frank Sciolla. “She was always a playmaker that made good decisions. This was often a bone of contention for people that thought her coaches should force her to shoot more.
“But it was hard to tell a young kid not to make the correct play. Usually most of her scoring would come in bunches if her team was down late. Last season she was forced to score more and she responded. Her path to 1,000 was unique. She gets no points on run outs or leak outs. We can’t afford to have her leak out or cherry pick because we often need her on the other team’s best player, and we must have her rebounding.
“So many of her points come against faceguards and dealing with the 1-2 extra defenders behind the face guarder. I watched with fascination Maddie Burke’s freshman year at Penn State. Maddie no longer sees that type of attention, and she has thrived. As a coach, I’m happy she hit it while being such a dangerous passer, winning two league titles and averaging 20 wins a season. As a parent, I’m just happy she got a chance to play this year when so many kids didn’t.”
For Ava, who has committed to perennial national power University of Maryland, the opportunity to play for her father has been an opportunity she cherishes.
“He’s given me the opportunity to love this game that has taken me so far and will take me into the next level of my life,” she said. “My dad never put expectations on me. His only goal was that I was enjoying myself and that I was loving what I was doing.
“My dad is my ‘trainer,’ but he makes it all about me. If I’m going to work out, he’s going to be there. He’s instilled that in me that he’s always by my side, he’s always there to rebound. He’s there for everything.”
For Frank Sciolla, Ava is the ninth player he’s coached to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
I’ve been fortunate to have really good players, who enjoy playing a style of play when you score points,” he said. “It was cool that Ava’s came off an assist from Bella Arcuri who has probably assisted on several hundred of Ava’s points and has been her partner in crime going back to when Ava was in third grade and Bella was in fourth,” he said. “So that’s always special.
“One of the things that’s cool is you’re out there with the kids you grew up with. Ava and Kiley Haws went to elementary school together and used to be at the same bus stop. She’s on the floor at the same time. Mia Spinelli is out there who was a big rival of Ava’s in local CYO. She had played with Abbi Nassivera. It’s so cool for her to have that experience, and the girls were great.”
Sciolla and her teammates got a police escort for their final mile home from Wissahickon.
“Our community is so great about it,” Frank Sciolla said. There was a crowd in the parking lot waiting.
“I think people realize it’s been a tough year for these kids and a moment like this at Pennsbury had it not been a COVID year – it would have been a packed gym. We have that type of support. So it was great to get that.
“When I see these 1,000-point scorers that have hit recently, I feel good for these kids because they lost games last year and this year to COVID, and in 2009, PIAA took away two regular season games from us so everything that has happened since then has come with fewer games as well.”
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