Jordan HammStanding above 6’2″, Seton Catholic’s Jenn and LeeAnne Wirth have the look of dominant post players, but they also have the ball skills and shooting ability of guards. Their size and skill sets have created matchup problems for those playing Seton Catholic. Though, this is nothing new for the Wirth family.
“All my sisters have played college basketball, and they tell us you’ll have a great advantage if you get ball-handling skills, so we focus on that a lot,” LeeAnne said. “It really helped us to work on our shot…so thanks to them, we’ve got that down, and it really helps with our game.”
The twins’ sisters have all played at Seton Catholic: Alana played for Barry University, Christina was a first team All-SEC honoree at Vanderbilt, and Theresa currently plays for the University of Denver.
Having been a part of last year’s state championship winning team, and key contributors on this year’s team that will play Maricopa in the Division-II state finals Monday, the youngest of the Wirth sisters have continued the family’s success at Seton Catholic.
And their chemistry is, well, sisterly.
“They can just feed off each other. One drives, the other one finds the gap, and they dish the ball to each other, and I think that’s chemistry that comes from playing together their whole lives,” Seton Catholic head girls basketball coach Karen Self said.
The chemistry and comradery is evident the second they step on the floor, but was this always the case for them growing up?
“Not off the court,” Jenn joked. “On the court, we had to make adjustments, we kind of had to put up with it.”
They put up with it, and the chemistry followed, but LeeAnne says their skill sets were further developed when they weren’t on the floor together.
“We had about two years where she was injured or I was injured, so it’s great to be back on the floor with her again,” LeeAnne said. “Our chemistry is great, and having all that time off has helped us grow in our individual games.”
That development has helped the sisters find their playing identity. While either sister can go from playing power forward to shooting guard, Jenn says she her style gravitates more to a post player, and LeeAnne plays more of an inside-out style, playing the post, but also shooting from the perimeter.
The Seton Catholic roster is full of talent, but also quite a bit of youth. Along with the Wirths, who are sophomores, is freshman Sarah Barcello, the team’s leading scorer, as well as sophomore point guard Liz Holter.
With already accomplishing so much, LeeAnne and Jenn have a chance to leave their fingerprints all over this Seton Catholic program, much like their older sisters have.
“(We need to) keep practicing. That’s pretty much it,” Jenn said. “I’m really looking forward to the years to come. Hopefully we’ll be back (in the finals),” Jenn said.
