After its Big Three moved on, St. Joe’s women’s basketball leadership has a decidedly Philly flair

Any good team is built on trust, and when two teammates have played together as long as Gabby Casey and Aleah Snead have, trust comes naturally at this point.

Snead and Casey played AAU hoops together with the Philadelphia Belles and were members of the Philadelphia Belles Bluestar National Team in 2023. During that 2022-23 season, they also played against each other in high school, Casey at Lansdale Catholic and Snead at Penn Charter.

Then, in the fall of 2023, Snead and Casey set off for their freshman season at St. Joseph’s.

Now as juniors, the pair isn’t just playing together, they’re leading the Hawks together, in the box score and the locker room.

“Trust takes time, and we’ve been together for so long, so now we trust each other on the court to make big plays for each other,” Snead said. “Even to be a leader. I trust Gabby in her opinion on everything.”

Wherever you look on the St. Joe’s stat sheet, you’ll likely find Casey and Snead at or near the top. Casey leads the Hawks in scoring, (15.7 points per game), rebounds (6.9 per game), and steals (35). Snead follows directly behind her in each of the categories, averaging 10.9 points and 5.4 rebounds, and totaling 23 steals this season. Snead leads the team in minutes played, while Casey is just behind her.

Hawks coach Cindy Griffin said that the duo understands these individual accomplishments don’t come without collective success for the team, which currently is 12-5 (3-3 Atlantic 10). Griffin said Snead and Casey have “taken a lot on their shoulders” offensively and defensively for the Hawks, put in the day-to-day work at practices, and bring the team closer.

After graduating two of its top players in Talya Brugler and Mackenzie Smith, and with a third, Laura Ziegler, transferring to Louisville, Griffin said Snead and Casey knew it was “their time to step up.”

“This is their team,” Griffin said. “They felt like they were putting in the work, putting in the time, and [have] a true understanding of what that looks like. And both have stepped up tremendously.”

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Casey had a big jump last season and earned the Big 5’s Most Improved Player award. And as the A-10 Sixth Woman of the Year last year, Snead was no stranger to the “next player up” mentality, so it was only natural for the two to step into the role their teammates needed from them.

With Brugler and Smith as examples, Snead said it was easy to pass on what she learned from them when assuming her leadership role.

“I was a good follower, so becoming a leader myself was easy, and these people, my teammates, are easy people to lead on the court,” Snead said. “I just trusted myself and my ability to be able to support and make big plays for my team.”

It helps to lead alongside Casey, someone she trusts and with whom she is comfortable. Casey said they know how to run the court together and play off each other, which their coach saw even before they were her players.

Griffin’s youngest daughter, Hannah Griffin, played on the Philadelphia Belles with Snead and Casey, which allowed Griffin to get to know both the players and their families before they were Hawks.

“When it was time for summer, you could see the bond between the two of them and just being able to complement one another,” Griffin said. “You can see it on the court. They look for each other, they find each other, they trust each other, and they know that each is going to show up for each other.”

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Snead and Casey were 1,000-point scorers in high school. Casey holds the program scoring record at Lansdale Catholic was MaxPreps’ Pennsylvania High School Basketball Player of the Year and the Gatorade Pennsylvania girls’ basketball player of the year her senior year.

Casey and Snead were MVP of the Catholic League and Inter-Ac League, respectively, during the 2022-23 season, so both knew what it meant to play Philly basketball even before they arrived at St. Joe’s.

“Being home is a fun place and environment to be in, so I kind of am spirited and wear that on my chest,” Snead said. “I’m from Philly, I’m playing in Philly, people are coming to see us, and that’s why I just try to tell my teammates too.”

Griffin said with players from the area like Casey and Snead, there is an understanding of the grit and competitiveness that accompanies playing in the city.

Casey experienced this during her time in the PCL, playing against other high school players with Division I aspirations.

“I think that really just helped me with the physicality level and the speed that we were able to play at in high school,” Casey said. “Philly basketball is tough, and it’s competitive, and I think that it really helped me transition into college.”

» READ MORE: Penn Charter’s Aleah Snead comes from a family of athletes, and now she’s following in their steps (from 2022)

Now, that grit and competitiveness is helping to fuel the Hawks through the back half of the season, which Griffin said the team is taking one game at a time.

St. Joe’s was picked to finish sixth out of 14 teams in the A-10, and Casey said the Hawks used that as a “spark plug” to help them catch some opponents off guard.

But, ultimately, it comes back to trust, which starts with Casey and Snead.

“We just come out like we have nothing to lose and just give our all every single game, and we just really trust each other on and off the court,” Casey said. “That helps as well, just knowing what we can get done on the floor and ultimately coming out with wins.”