03/15/25 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Bishop Carroll's Adelyn Myers (center) is congratulated by her sister Avery Myers (left) and Caroline Golden after the game.

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

Jolene (Golden) Myers had a sense of deja vu Saturday when she watched her twin daughters, Adelyn and Avery Myers, beat Williamsburg in a PIAA playoff game at the Altoona Area High School Fieldhouse.

Jolene’s Bishop Carroll team pulled off the same feat in the same gym in 1996 in the PIAA semifinals.

“It has been absolutely amazing to watch,” Jolene Myers said. “I have four daughters. I have an older daughter (Lydia) that graduated last year and a younger daughter who will be a freshman next year. All this time, I have hoped they got to experience what I experienced. I got to go to states twice in 1996 and 1998. I always hoped they would get to experience it at least once.”

Saturday’s win came in the PIAA quarterfinals — the Lady Huskies will be back on the AAHS Fieldhouse court Saturday for a semifinal matchup against Bishop Guilfoyle Academy at noon.

“I think it’s very cool, because I know all the stories that my parents and aunts and uncles tell about going to districts and states,” Adelyn Myers said. “Now that we’re actually in it ourselves, it makes it even more special and we understand.”

Jolene’s Bishop Carroll teams beat Williamsburg in the state semifinals twice, 45-42, in 1996 and 34-32 in 1998.

“I get told a lot that I look like my mom,” Avery Myers said. “And then I hear the stories about their teams when they were young. It’s cool to live up to that, and hopefully we can get as far as they did when they played.”

The twins also have another family member on the floor with them this season, their cousin senior Caroline Golden.

Caroline is the daughter of Matt (Jolene’s brother) and Beth Golden.

“I personally think it’s been really fun,” Avery Myers said. “Especially playing with my sister and my cousin. I think when we’re on the court together, we play really well. We have played with each other for a long time, even just at our homes, so we play well together. My twin sister and I are always challenging each other, so it’s really fun to play with her.”

Matt Golden graduated in 1997, played basketball and was at Bishop Carroll when the Huskies won a District 6 title in 1994.

“The family connections make our team closer,” Bishop Carroll coach John Strittmatter said. “Their parents also all played at Bishop Carroll. I coached Matt, Caroline’s dad, when he was at Bishop Carroll. It’s weird when you have coached kids and now you’re coaching their kids. I’m no young guy anymore.”

Caroline has some of the same attributes her dad had when he played for Strittmatter.

“He talks about connections where he sees me in my dad and my dad in things I do,” Caroline Golden said. “It’s comforting to know he knows both of us and has helped both of us.”

Caroline has been a starter at Bishop Carroll but now comes off the bench. But she’s developed into a leadership role that has been critical to the Lady Huskies’ success.

“Caroline is one of those girls who will do anything you ask on the team,” Strittmatter said. “She’s very unselfish. She will do whatever I ask her to do. If I ask her to play as a five, she’ll play it. If I need her to be a three-guard, she’ll play it. She doesn’t back down from anything, and I think the younger players watch how she carries herself and respect her for that.”

Caroline played for Bishop Carroll when it knocked off Blacklick Valley and Glendale to qualify for the PIAA playoffs in 2022, and her experience in the postseason has been valuable to her younger teammates.

“I definitely have taken a leadership role being one of only two seniors,” Caroline Golden said. “I was a starter for many years in high school and have been to the playoffs. It can be very intimidating for new players, and I feel it’s my responsibility to prepare them and let them know it’s just another game and they just have to try their best.”

But beyond the games, Caroline has enjoyed the family bonding time.

“It’s been really special,” Caroline Golden said. “I have gotten the opportunity to play with my cousins for most of my life in basketball. That’s an opportunity most people don’t have. I feel blessed to have that opportunity, especially this year going so far and making memories along with them. Our whole family has been sharing this together and talking about it at family functions.

“My cousins and I hang out and live very close to each other. We always share rides to basketball and to school. We hang out on weekends at our grandparents’ house. We’re all really close and love being together.”

Adelyn Myers is among the top scorers on this year’s team and is averaging 12.6 points per game. She’s played in all 28 games for Bishop Carroll, Avery has played in 26 and Golden has played 21 games.

“Adelyn is just a natural freelance type of player,” Strittmatter said. “That’s her style. I try to give her a free rein of using her abilities and letting the other kids learn how to play like that too. So far, we have been successful. She’ll dominate a team with her dribbling and her ability to jump and leap. She does a lot of things that come natural to her but for others, it isn’t. I just try and let her play her game.”

Bishop Carroll’s run to the PIAA semifinals comes just a year after the boys team made the PIAA semifinals.

“It reminds me of when I was in high school,” Matt Golden said. “I wasn’t a great player, but we had a really good team and a really good coach. My sisters also played, and the girls basketball team was phenomenal. They were good for many years after that, and my sister (Jolene) has two daughters on the team that remind me a lot of my sisters when they played. It brings back a lot of great memories.”

Family legacies are usually focused on more at public schools, but Bishop Carroll has plenty of it.

“At Bishop Carroll, there’s a tradition,” Strittmatter said. “The public schools complain that we recruit. We don’t recruit anybody. Who we have is who we have. They show up to go to school there. There’s no going out and trying to recruit anyone. There’s just a tradition, and a lot of the kids that are there — their parents went there. That’s the big thing. The Goldens, the Myers, Ava (Pablic’s) mom went there. She graduated around the time my son Josh graduated from there.”

Jolene said that bond has always been part of the school.

“Just being a graduate of Bishop Carroll and going through that school like my entire family has, it’s always a big family,” said Jolene Myers, whose parents Rick and Jane Golden also graduated from Carroll. “When it’s a sport like this, it’s amazing. With even just my twins, it’s unmatched, and then with another family member, it brings everyone closer — that family connection. We were raised Catholic, so sending our kids to a Catholic school was super important to us to keep faith in their daily lives, and it is truly a sense of family.”

Jolene and the twins’ father, Casey, might be nervous watching Saturday’s PIAA semifinal against Bishop Guilfoyle, but the family connection on the court will be keeping each other calm.

“It makes it a lot less nerve-wracking,” Avery Myers said. “We’re having so much fun. Playing with them makes it feel like we’re just practicing at home. So, we feel less nervous, and they really bring the joy. I have loved this season.”