Mars' Alexis Cashdollar (5) has verbally committed to Wake Forest women’s basketball as a preferred walk-on. Jared Todhunter/Special to the Eagle

Alexis Cashdollar could’ve continued her women’s basketball career at Campbell, Seton Hill or IUP.

But a family connection drew the Mars senior to Wake Forest, where she’ll head next year as a preferred walk-on.

Her father, Tim, played football for the Demon Deacons in the late 1990s.

“It’s just kind of been in the family,” Cashdollar said.

Cashdollar, a guard, was an honorable mention on the Butler Eagle’s Girls Basketball All-Star team a season ago after averaging a team-high 10.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.1 steals a game. The Planets went 15-12, finished fourth in the WPIAL Class 5A tournament and lost in the opening round of the PIAA tournament.

Aside from her success on the high school hardwood, she gained attention in other ways.

“I’ve been going to a couple of elite camps there for maybe two years,” Cashdollar said. “I’ve just been in contact with the coaching staff and talking to them. I knew there wasn’t a scholarship, but the preferred walk-on was there and I just really wanted to take that opportunity (of) being able to play Division I basketball.”

Cashdollar also went to camps at Kent State and Gannon, but had her mind set on heading to Winston-Salem for a while. She’d visited the campus plenty over the years.

“I hope to play a role in how this team does, prove myself a little bit to earn that scholarship,” Cashdollar said.

The 2025-26 PIAA basketball season begins Nov. 28.