Senior guard is talented, versatile

Alayna Rocco definitely has layers to her personality.

“I’m kind of shy,” Rocco said. “Before you get to know me, I don’t talk a lot.”

That’s what she’s like when she’s off the court. Put a basketball in her hands and tip it off, and the North Catholic senior is a completely different person.

“She’s the nicest kid you’d ever meet,” North Catholic coach Molly Rottmann said. “If you were hanging out with her, you would never know that she was a high-level D-I player that is going to Harvard who is able to turn on that competitive mindset.”

But that metamorphosis from somewhat-reticent student to uber-focused gym rat is what made Rocco stand out throughout her career with the Trojannetes.

In her four years as a starter, she has been to four WPIAL championship games, won three titles in two classifications and been selected to the P-G Fab 5 each of the past two seasons. She was the Class 3A player of the year as a sophomore, the top player in Class 4A the past two seasons and finished her career with 1,716 points.

This year, Rocco is adding a big honor to her resume. She is the 2024 Post-Gazette Girls Basketball Player of the Year. She is the second player from North Catholic ever to be so honored, joining 2017 selection Sam Breen.

Although Rocco and Breen both played at North Catholic, they had very different styles. Rocco is an inside-outside player and a slasher to the hoop, while Breen was an inside force to be reckoned with who could step out of the paint when needed.

Even so, there are similarities between the two, including the fact both will play collegiately in Massachusetts. Breen, who is now playing professionally in Finland for Vimpelin Veto, played at the University of Massachusetts. Rocco will play at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass.

“I think the similarity is their ability to dominate both on the offensive and defensive end,” Rottmann said. “Sam is still doing it in Finland and, since freshman year, Alayna had been assigned to defend the other team’s top player and she did an amazing job.”

Rocco played lockdown defense all season, but it was her ability to carry the team at crunch time that helped North Catholic win its third consecutive WPIAL title and second consecutive in Class 4A. In the WPIAL final against eventual state champion Blackhawk, she scored a game-high 26 points, including 17 of her team’s final 19, as the No. 2-seeded Trojanettes pulled out a 40-37 overtime win against the Cougars. This season, Rocco averaged 19 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals a game. She shot 88% from the free-throw line and made 35% of her 3-pointers.

Then again, Rocco’s success shouldn’t be all that surprising. Her father, Jim, is the North Catholic boys coach and her brother, Zach, was a solid player in his own right when he played at Penn-Trafford, where dad used to coach. Zach now plays at West Point.

But Alayna also had another person who deeply influenced her game.

“He passed away a few years ago, but [Carl] Parker from the Shadyside Boys & Girls Club. I would go down there with my brother when I was really young and, I didn’t want to, but he made me play with the boys,” Rocco said. “I think playing with the boys made me the player that I am.”

Now Rocco, who started almost as soon as she stepped onto the court at North Catholic, will have a similar challenge ahead of her. Because of Ivy League rules, she can neither redshirt nor play as a graduate student, so she will have to make an immediate impact as soon as she gets to Cambridge.

“I’m definitely getting in the gym a lot. I work out with Run the Show [training center] and they’re my favorite to work out with,” Rocco said. “They set up a good college workout and do all the skill and have a high pace and hold you accountable for everything.”

At North Catholic, Rocco accounted for a lot.

Keith Barnes: kbarnes.pg@gmail.com and @kbarnes_pghsprt on X