Ava Aldarelli is a freshman with the wisdom of an upperclassman. Or maybe even a coach.
Asked if there is any facet of her basketball game she is looking to work on in the off-season, the Robbinsville High 9th-grader said, “I try to just improve all around. If I focus on one thing too much, it could just become the only part of my game.”
So true. And it appears she has been working on that all-around game already in her young life.
“When we played Lawrence she hit a bunch of threes,” first-year Ravens coach Justin Schmid said. “Against Nottingham it was a bunch of steals. With New Egypt she was coming off screens and hitting jump shots. Once we get her into the weight room she can really start to drive to the basket.”
Apparently, that’s the only flaw in an otherwise well-built design.
“She’ll drive into the middle of the paint and it’s a disaster there,” Schmid said. “You’ve got 17- and 18-year-olds in there. We tell her ‘You gotta pull up here, you’re not ready to go up and bang in there.’”
Which is something Aldarelli has no argument with.
“Yeah,” she said with a laugh. “That’s when you realize you’re a freshman.”
That may be the only time she looks that young on the court, however, as Aldarelli is one of the new sensations in the Colonial Valley Conference this season. Through Robbinsville’s surprising 9-5 start, she led the team in scoring (9.8 per game) and steals (44) and was second in rebounds with 88 despite playing guard.
“I honestly can’t be much happier at this point as a freshman,” Aldarelli said. “I wasn’t aware of the (leading) scoring thing happening. The people out there with me are a big part of me, Caroline (Walls), Abby (Reagan), Jackie (Maleson) and Reagan (Robinson). They’re there to pick me up when I’m having a tough time. I can always rely on them. Whenever I ask them a question, they have the answer.”
Those girls are the four returning varsity players, none of which had ample playing time last year as Robbinsville did not return one starter. The four have come together nicely and it’s safe to say the arrival of Ava has been a difference maker.
“Reagan has been awesome,” Schmid said. “She’s leading us in rebounds (107 through 14 games) and assists (29). She’s been huge, I think she got the most varsity time out of all of them. You don’t really expect freshmen to come in and make an impact. But I have to say, I don’t know where we’d be without Ava.”
Aldarelli began playing rec basketball in the first grade and started playing seriously in fourth grade when she joined the Robbinsville travel team. From there she went to the Mid-Jersey Mavericks, led by Steinert coach Kristin Jacobs, and currently plays for the AUF Lady Hawks.
Jacobs recalled that “Ava is a fierce competitor that has a knack for scoring. Nothing shakes her. She keeps herself even keeled.”
Schmid got to see and hear first-hand how fierce Aldarelli played when she was in middle school. Justin coached the Stone Bridge Middle in Allentown for the previous six years and his sister, Kaitlyn, coached Ava at Pond Road. He not only watched her play, but got insight about her from his sister.
“She had to score at least in the 20s in middle school,” Schmid said. “When I got the job at Robbinsville in October, there was no one who really played significant varsity time. I talked to my sister and said ‘You think this Ava kid can play varsity as a freshman?’ Because it’s tough being 14 and coming in against 17 and 18 year olds.”
Kaitlyn, a former Wagner University assistant coach, gave a resounding “yes” to the question, but her brother wanted to go slow with the ninth-grader. That lasted for about two days of tryouts.
“It was like ‘Uh oh, here we go,” Schmid said. “She was leading the break in drills, finishing around the rim. She was doing a little bit of everything in practice. In our first scrimmage we struggled to score against Delran. I put her in, and I think she had 10 points.
“You can slowly see it coming and I was glad. You never want to give a freshman the keys to the castle right away. But she started the first game and played pretty well, and you could just see it coming.”
Aldarelli had eight points, nine rebounds and six steals against Hamilton in her varsity debut, then continued to prove it was no fluke. Her best game was 25 points and 10 rebounds against Lawrence. She hit double figures six times in the first 14 games, and continued to do other things to help win.
“Anyone’s goal is to make varsity,” Aldarelli said. “I try to have confidence in myself; and (making varsity) was my goal. But no matter if I was on JV or varsity, whatever the situation, just winning games and helping that team is what mattered.”
She is helping the Ravens in many ways and, in what is a rare occurrence, has not drawn the ire or jealousy of upperclassmen.
“My favorite part about her is that nothing went to her head,” Schmid said. “It’s just ‘OK, on to the next game, just follow the game plan.’ There’s no cockiness. Sometimes you get a new kid coming in and messing up what (upperclassmen) thought is their season as juniors and seniors. The kids have embraced her.”
And while Ava is not cocky and is respectful to her older teammates, that does not mean she will defer to anyone. Which is why she began leading the break in her first day of practice.
“It’s just kind of a natural instinct,” she said “I don’t really think that much about the age. When I go out there, I think that all these people are freshmen. It’s just ‘Get the ball up the court and score.’”
Which is exactly what she did in a Senior Night victory over Nottingham. Schmid started all seniors, as tradition decrees, and inserted Aldarelli when the game was still scoreless. Suddenly, the Ravens went up 11-2 and Ava finished with 16 points and eight rebounds in the victory.
“She really reads the court well,” Schmid said. “She passes, finishes around the rim great, her jump shot is coming along. I don’t think she knows yet quite how good she can be.”
Probably the most amazing stat is her rebounding totals, as she stands just 5-6 and plays on the perimeter.
“I just try to get in the paint when the ball goes up,” Aldarelli said. “Abby’s leading the team in rebounds, she’s great at it. She’s just a little taller than me, so I just try to do whatever she’s doing.”
Schmid added that “a lot of her rebounds are offensive boards, which helps her get extra points. I really got on her early. She wasn’t hitting the glass defensively too well, and rebounding kind of was a big problem early on for us. But she just works hard. She practiced all the rebound drills. And sometimes it’s just instinct and effort.”
Aldarelli comes from a sports-oriented family, so effort is sewn into her DNA. She also plays softball and was part of a state championship team for Robbinsville Little League a few years ago. A lifelong soccer player, Ava switched to field hockey in the fall and ended up second on the team with eight goals for Jennamarie Colicchia’s 14-5, CVC Valley Division champion.
Asked why she changed fall sports, Aldarelli said “I honestly couldn’t tell you. It was kind of just a flip and I wanted to try something new. I actually ended up starting, which was a surprise.”
With her athletic skills, nothing should be a surprise.
“She’s one of those kids that can pick up anything,” said Schmid, who will be glad to know Ava considers basketball her main sport.
The refreshing thing about Aldarelli is that her modesty is as discernible as her talent. Schmid noted that after one win, he awarded her with the game ball that she sheepishly accepted, before saying to her coach “Couldn’t you just say you’re proud of me.”
Which is typical of Aldarelli, who would rather talk about the team’s success than her own.
“I think just trusting each other and going about it together and learning has really helped us,” she said. “We have so many seniors that are leading this team. We also have our new coach who is building a new culture for our team. With all of that, I think it’s just coming together finally.”
And knowing Aldarelli has three more years to help it come together has to be a comforting thought for Ravens fans.
Robbinsville High School girls’ basketball player Ava Aldarelli, a freshman, is one of the team’s best all-around players.,
