Jessie Moses isn’t a typical high school freshman.
The Westtown guard already has a full varsity season under her belt, something she never expected when looking at high schools.
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Moses played alongside Jordyn Palmer for the Moose last season as an eighth-grader, helping her squad navigate a national schedule and win Friends Schools League and Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association championships.
“I felt like last year I didn’t really notice how crazy it was for me, an eighth-grader playing up,” Moses said. “But now looking back, I was just amazed by how like two eighth-graders got game time and impacted the team like we did.”
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Last season was a slight adjustment for Moses after starting ever game in middle school. As an eighth-grader playing with (and against) girls several years older, she had to get used to coming off the bench at times.
It was an “intro” for what she needed to do.
“I had to find something that other people maybe didn’t do as well to get on the court,” Moses said. “Just find the stuff that our team was missing so I could incorporate that in a game.”
Moses, a 5-foot-10 point guard, starred on the Philly Rise 15U team this summer, setting the stage for a big freshman year with the Moose.
The Moose are out to a good start following last season’s lengthy list of accomplishments, with wins over highly touted programs like Bishop Ireton (Va.), Sidwell Friends (D.C.), and Red Bank Catholic (N.J.).
In her second season with Westtown, Moses once again is on a roster full of Division I prospects. This year, she has a more featured role.
“Last year looking up to the seniors, it showed what I needed to do,” Moses said. “Now that I’m in the spot to perform, I feel like all the doors are open for me.”
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She has the ball in her hands more as a pure point guard after playing off-ball at times in eighth grade. She learned a lot from last year’s seniors like Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick (Seton Hall), but said she has “more freedom” this year.
“It’s just more natural for me, and I feel like I’m not hesitant,” Moses said. “I can just go without worry.”
Since last year’s season at Westtown and a summer of AAU, Moses, who is featured in ESPN’s Class of 2027 HoopGurlz recruiting rankings, has accumulated a number of Division I scholarship offers, including a few high majors.
In recent months, Boston College, Syracuse, Michigan, Arizona State, Wisconsin, and Villanova have extended scholarship offers to the freshman, adding to her already long list of schools. Moses also holds previous offers from Rutgers, St. Johns, Marquette, Florida, Penn State, and St. Joseph’s.
She has taken visits to Florida, Penn State, St. Joe’s, and Maryland. Duke also has expressed interest, she said.
“I feel like they are all very similar, but they all have their special touch that the coaches give,” Moses said. “The vibe of the coaches and the players impacts a lot on maybe decisions [of] where I’d want to go.”
The goal is to continue to keep working and open up even more opportunities for herself down the line.
“It just pushes me to be better, knowing that I have a target on my back now with offers as a younger kid,” Moses said. “It also just feels good and that my hard work is finally paying off, so I feel like it’s good and bad at the same time.”
Westtown has three new eighth-graders in the fold this season in twins Radhi and Ishana Sundararajan along with Trinity Ingram.
After being in their shoes last year and knowing how difficult it was for her at times, Moses is trying to guide the young group.
“It takes a lot of responsibility,” Moses said. “But I feel like now I’m set for it after playing eighth grade.
“The fact that I got to play in eighth grade and see what I need to work on and be ready at the high level going to Westtown, I feel like that was really important.”
This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.
