Pennsbury seniors Ava Jordan and Maggie Burns were recognized for committing to continue their basketball careers at the collegiate level.
“Coaching Ava and Maggie was really a great experience because they are both examples of what you call program kids,” Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla said. “They developed every single year, and they got better, and they worked within roles. They started out as really good athletes who were able to exceed because of that, and that got them on the floor as ninth graders. Each year, they put something different into their game.
“They’re different in terms of personality. Both of them are highly intelligent, and they do really well in school. Maggie is a questioner. She is someone that will definitely advocate for herself, and she was always somebody who was not afraid to express her opinion in practice. Ava is somebody who has a really strong value system and understands what she wants. That carried over to the court as well.
“Their freshman year, they were part of that great team that made the state run, so they saw how things were done, and they took that culture, and they carried that through. That really came to the fore this year at a time when we definitely could have struggled. We started slow, and we were 1-3 and struggling, and they – along with fellow senior Caroline Stover - really never let the team fall off. They kept playing well, and they kept guiding all these freshmen because we were playing six freshmen and a number of sophomores. Those two never let us get out of games. We made a run, and it came down to the last game of the league season – we had a chance to win the league championship, and that’s a testimony to them because we had lost seven seniors from the previous year and our leading returning scorer, so there were definitely a lot of questions, and they answered them.
“It’s really fun to coach them because they allow themselves to be coached because they’re so competitive. I was happy that I was able to have that experience with them this spring in flag football because we all got to see each other athletically in a different light. I feel like more of our natural personalities were able to come through in that time. They were an enormous help to me in my first year doing it as they both played really well. But more importantly, they brought that culture that they were used to in terms of communication, respect, trust and the other things that we do on the basketball end to be successful to the flag football piece where they were playing with a lot of teammates who were used to doing things differently. Their way isn’t necessarily the best, but it’s the way that they were used to, and Maggie and Ava really did a great job coming in and being leaders.
“We will miss them. I’ll go back to saying it again – they were program kids in that as seventh and eighth graders, they battled on their travel team for playing time and time on the court. As juniors and seniors, they were varsity starters and key members on really good teams.”
Maggie Burns – Muhlenberg University (Basketball)
Major: Political Science & Business
Reasons for choosing Muhlenberg: “I was considering not playing basketball at all and going to a larger state school, 
but then I visited Muhlenberg a couple of times. It just felt like home. Basketball season ended, and I was like – ‘I don’t want to leave this.’”
What was the progression that led you to competing in basketball at the collegiate level? “Muhlenberg offered me over the summer, and I’d always kept it in my back pocket. I didn’t want to close any doors. I’d gotten a few other offers, but they weren’t schools I was really interested in. Muhlenberg was, so I really kept up with it. I sent out all my applications, they came back with financial aid and all of that stuff, and it just panned out to be the best offer for me.”
About Maggie:
Favorite food: Steak and mac ‘n cheese
Favorite movie: When Harry Met Sally
Favorite artist: George Harrison
Ava Jordan – Case Western Reserve University (Basketball)
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Final list of colleges: Case Western, RPI, Tufts
Reasons for choosing Case Western: “Case Western has a great medical program, and I’m really hoping to learn a lot of from that,
and I also really clicked with the coaches and the team, so that was a big part for me.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in basketball at the collegiate level? “Freshman and sophomore year, I realized I didn’t want this to end in a couple of years, and I wanted to keep playing. I started doing camps and looking at colleges that would be realistic for me to play at.”
About Ava:
Favorite food: Strawberries or my mom’s chicken cutlets
Favorite TV show: New Girl
Favorite artists: Sizza & Taylor Swift
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