Queen of the court
BUTLER TWP — The numbers just keep coming.
Twenty-five points and 16 rebounds vs. Bishop Canevin, 20 points, 13 rebounds and six steals against Butler — all in a weekend’s work for Brenna Wise.
The 6-foot-0 junior Vincentian Academy basketball standout and Cranberry Township resident is on pace to reach lofty heights in WPIAL lore.
Eight games into her junior season, Wise has surpassed the 1,300-point plateau and appears well on her way to becoming the 38th girl in WPIAL history to score 2,000 points in a prep career.
And she doesn’t care.
“I have no idea how many points I’ve scored, where I may stand in any record book ... I don’t care. Points don’t define the player,” Wise said. “Winning games does.”
She’s pretty good at that, too.
A starter since her freshman year, Wise has helped Vincentian post a 64-5 record in the past three seasons, including consecutive WPIAL Class A championships and a PIAA runner-up finish.
She averaged 18 points per game her freshman year, starting alongside four seniors.
“Brenna fit right in with them as a freshman,” Royals coach Ron Moncrief said. “She’s always been a polished, versatile player with an incredible work ethic.
“She doesn’t even have a set position with us. I play her wherever I need her in a particular game because she can do everything well.”
Wise averaged 22 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.1 steals and 3.1 blocks per game as a sophomore last season. She made third team all-state as a freshman.
So far this year, she’s averaging 22.9 points and more than 12 rebounds per game. Wise has scored between 17 and 31 points in every game this season.
“She was more of a slasher who always drove to the hoop,” Moncrief said of Wise’s first two seasons. “She’s worked hard on her perimeter game and has developed an effective jump shot.”
Wise sank 17 3-pointers last season.
“When defenders sag in on me now, I have the confidence to pull up and take the jumper. I didn’t have that confidence before,” Wise admitted.
That just adds to the tools in Wise’s game that have attracted early collegiate offers from Pitt, Villanova, Dayton and Virginia Tech. Carrying a 4.7 grade point average, she is also looking at Princeton and Harvard.
“I want to study business. My dad has been very successful in business and I want to follow in his footsteps,” Wise said.
Her father also taught her how to play basketball. Wise’s older brother, 6-foot-4 Ryan, also played basketball at Vincentian and helped his team win a WPIAL title.
“You can tell how much she loves the game,” Butler coach Dorothea Epps said of Wise. “She plays with energy and emotion.
“Brenna clearly has the talent and she brings grit and intensity on the floor with it.”
The result is consistent production.
“We get a double-double out of her every night,” Moncrief said.
Now a sophomore mechanical engineering major at Penn State, Ryan Wise was a senior when Brenna was a freshman.
“He helped me that first year a lot. It was cool having him there,” Wise said of her brother. “We’ve always had grueling one-on-one battles in the driveway. We still do when we’re both home.
“He’s helped make me a better player.”
A third Wise — three and a half year-old Logan — is coming up through the ranks.
“He’s a little fireball who already loves the game,” Brenna said, laughing. “No doubt in my mind, he’s gonna play.”
Barely more than halfway through her high school career, Wise insists she has more work to do.
“I need to work on my ball handling, become a better shooter and a better teammate,” she said.
“I’d like to help us string a couple more WPIAL titles to what we’ve done and we’re still chasing that state championship. We’re not done yet. You can always strive for more.”
