02/22/2026; 7:45pm EST by Josh Verlin | City of Basketball Love
Before the Public League girls’ championship game, Audenried Charter assistant coach Marcellus Boone put a couple names on the board: Shayla Smith and Senaya Parker.
The message was clear: the two former Rockets’ standouts weren’t there to carry the day this time.
“He put it up on the board,” Audenried coach Kevin Slaughter relayed “and he said ‘they’re gone, they’re not here anymore, they’re gone.’ So we said that, the kids got emotional, because he got emotional, and he said ‘whenever we got in trouble, Shayla always saved us.’”
The two 2025 grads had carried the torch for a Rockets program that had sat atop the Public League each of the last three years, but if the streak was to be continued, it was going to have to be with new saviors on the court.
As it turns out, Slaughter and his staff had just the girls they needed.
Behind double-doubles from senior Heaven Reese and junior Nasiaah Russell and a healthy contribution from the supporting cast, Audenried’s girls kept their crowns as queens of the Pub, taking down archrival Imhotep Charter 64-50 in the title game on Sunday at La Salle University.
It’s the fifth straight time the two have met in the Public League championship game. Imhotep — which was playing in its 14th straight Pub title game — won the first, but Slaughter’s Rockets have held it since.
“I’m not trying to be cocky,” he said. “I think we’re going to be good [next year too]; we got the Public League in a chokehold right now. I want to win the state, I want to win the city, but right now — we’re good man, we’re good.”
The Rockets’ newest championship was their first of the run without Smith, the Pub’s all-time leading scorer now a freshman at Penn State and the leader of a talented 2025 class that also included Parker and several others. Reese, Russell and senior Aniyah Cheeseboro had been there for the bulk of the run; most of the rest of Slaughter’s rotation was relatively new, a mix of underclassmen and a couple transfers in senior Ciani Scott (West Catholic) and Ashley Boykin, a junior guard who came over from Imhotep Charter.
And they still went unbeaten in the Public League’s top division and ultimately emerged victorious, forcing 22 turnovers and getting eight girls in the scoring column in a true team effort of a title win.
“Everybody said without Shayla that we were pretty much going to be trash,” Reese said, “so we’ve just proved to the world that we’re that team, we’re them guys.”
Russell, the Rockets’ 6-foot-3 forward and St. John’s commit, put together a dominant all-around effort with 22 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks, with a couple assists and steals for good measure. She got her team off to a strong start, scoring 10 points in the first quarter, including a 3-pointer and a three-point play as Audenried led 24-14 after eight minutes.
With Smith gone, she’s the clear two-way focal point for the program — but unlike Smith, she doesn’t always put up eye-popping scoring numbers; she’ll score on post-ups and spot-up shots, and is increasingly able to create her own offense, but she’s even more effective as a rebounding machine and post deterrent for every Imhotep drive.
“She’s dominant,” Slaughter said. “She played dominant. I think she could have had 30 points. Nasiaah just doesn’t have what Shayla has, she doesn’t think like hey, let me score a bunch of points. She just plays the game and slowly but surely lets the game come to her. But she just played great basketball, she really did, she played great basketball, and that was the awesome part.”
Reese, a 5-8 guard, helped them bring it home. After the lead went down to six at halftime, her three third-quarter treys helped the Rockets build their advantage back up to 15 by the end of the third. Another 3-ball early in the fourth, the last of her 14 points, helped keep the gap that large.
“Once I hit one shot, I just genuinely hit the flow state,” she said. “I just got in a flow and I was just in the moment.”
Imhotep (14-10), led by sophomore guard Taylor Linton (19 points) and senior forward Geren Hawthorne (16 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals), got within nine points later in the fourth, but turnovers down the stretch allowed Audenried to close comfortably.
Sophomore guard Chloe Kham, who won a Catholic League championship with Neumann-Goretti last year, helped Audenried seal the win with a couple late steals, including a theft and a layup to make it a 59-48 game with two minutes to play.
Russell put the finishing touches on the victory with a smooth reverse layup ahead of the Imhotep press with under 30 seconds on the clock, and the celebration was on.
Slaugher had specific praise afterwards for his senior class of Reese, Scott and Aniyah Cheeseboro, a four-year varsity contributor. Scott finished with two points, six rebounds and three assists; Cheeseboro started and finished with three points, a first-quarter trey, and Slaughter singled her out for her voice in huddles.
“The senior leadership […] took us to another level, it really did,” Slaugher said. “I’m not going to lie about it, sometimes I get frustrated with the kids because they know what I want, but at the same time, they get it done, and that’s all that matters.”
That leadership was critical with four underclassmen seeing the court. Starting point guard Iyonna Ellison, a 5-3 guard, finished with six rebounds, five assists and three steals in addition to a second-quarter layup. Freshman guard Caleemah Cutts knocked down two first-quarter jumpers, including a 3-pointer as part of a 10-0 run to give Audenried a lead it never relinquished.
“They were just telling me to lock in and I felt like all year I was going to hit big shots in this game, and it happened,” Cutts said. “They were just encouraging me to do what I do and shoot the ball.”
With the Public League behind, an even bigger prize awaits. No Philadelphia Public League girls’ basketball team has ever won a PIAA state playoff title.
Smith led the Rockets into the 4A state semifinals last year, but they lost by 19 to eventual state champion Neuman-Goretti. They certainly look like a threat to make another run deep into March, hoping to truly make some history in Hershey.
“I’ve been focused on the states since before we got to the [Public League] ‘chip,” Reese said. “We’ve been to the Pub three times, we’ve won the city, it’s just the states [left]. We’ve got to win the states.”
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By Quarter
Imhotep: 14 | 12 | 9 | 15 || 50
Audenried: 24 | 8 | 18 | 14 || 64
Shooting
Imhotep: 16-51 FG (6-23 3PT), 12-23 FT
Audenried: 22-55 FG (9-23 3PT), 11-22 FT
Scoring
Imhotep: Taylor Linton 19, Geren Hawthorne 16, McKenna Alston 10, Crystal Hawthorne 3, Sky Myatt 2
Audenried: Nasiaah Russell 22, Heaven Reese 14, Chloe Kham 13, Caleemah Cutts 5, Ashley Boykin 3, Aniyah Cheeseboro 3, Iyonna Ellison 2, Ciani Scott 2
