For their last basketball scrimmage before Thanksgiving, the girls of Germantown Academy did not have to travel far, making the short trip over to Upper Dublin High School.

After a relatively slow start, the visiting Patriots looked better in the last two of the four regulation periods. They really hit their stride during a fifth eight-minute segment, outscoring the Flying Cardinals, 20-6.

It’s the start of Lauren Thomer Power’s third season as GA head coach, and longtime assistant coach Andre Strothers is back on the bench along with 2018 GA graduate Alexa Naessens (Colgate University). A new addition this season is Zack Magill, who operates Zack Magill’s Court Sense Basketball training programs. He was formerly an assistant coach at West Chester University and at Hood College in Maryland.

In Power’s first season at GA, the Patriots finished in a three-way tie for the Inter-Ac League championship along with Penn Charter and the Academy of Notre Dame. Last winter, Notre Dame was the undefeated league champ, while Germantown came in second with a 10-2 record.

Penn Charter, at 6-6, slipped down to fourth place behind Episcopal Academy (7-5). The PC Quakers were followed by Agnes Irwin (5-7), Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (2-10), and Baldwin School (0-12).

The Patriots only graduated two players off of the 2024-25 squad, guards Gabby Bowes and Jessica Kolecki. Bowes is now playing for Millersville University, while Kolecki has stashed her sneakers and will major in biochemistry at Clemson University.

Again this season, there are only two seniors on the GA roster, guard Jennifer Fox and 5’11” forward Sylvie Harrington. Unfortunately, Fox had surgery for an ACL tear earlier this fall, and will be out for the season. She’ll be heading to Franklin & Marshall next fall, and Harrington will join the program at Gettysburg College.

Fox is a team captain along with 5’11” junior forward Claire McKee. The other returning junior is 6’1” forward/center Jo Owens. A third 11th-grader, Emma Seckinger, is a 5’11” guard who has transferred in from the Archbishop Wood program and is being recruited by a number of Division I colleges.

There was also an outbound transfer; guard Azzure O’Connor, who played varsity ball for GA last winter as an eighth grader, has switched over to Neumann Goretti High School.

The four freshmen who were members of the GA varsity last season are all back as sophomores; Molly Beggs, Luccia Bibro, Julianna Rush, and Taylor Williams. Williams, a six-foot forward, played on the Springside Chestnut Hill varsity as an eighth grader in 2023-24 before transferring to GA last year.

Seven freshmen are listed on this year’s varsity roster, and all are newcomers to Germantown Academy except for Jemma Sinni. Guard Sam Kollock, who started in last Tuesday’s scrimmage along with Harrington, McKee, Owens, and Williams, comes from Unami Middle School in Chalfont, and another Bucks County native is Olivia Smith, from Holland.

From St. Luke’s in Glenside comes Kiersten Ehnow, a post player who is the daughter of former Norwood Fontbonne Academy standout Mike Ehnow. Khloe Shacklett comes from Gwynedd Mercy Elementary and the well-regarded St. Helena’s CYO team in Blue Bell, and Chloe Armenakis is a six-footer from Lower Moreland who plays for the AAU Comets.

Guard Anaya Days comes from Northeast Philadelphia and Coach Power’s own grade school alma mater, St. Matthew’s.