Westmoreland County campus clippings: Southmoreland grad, Duquesne assistant Abel joins St. John's

Vanessa Abel is taking her coaching experience to a larger program.

The Southmoreland graduate, who spent the last six seasons as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Duquesne, was hired as an assistant at St. John’s.

Abel was an associate head coach for the Dukes this past season.

Abel, a former WPIAL and Duquesne star guard who played professionally in Europe, also coached at Western Michigan and Saint Francis.

“We can’t wait to have Vanessa join our staff,” St. John’s coach Joe Tartamella said in a news release. “Her wealth of experience and array of knowledge as a coach and a former player will help us develop our student-athletes on and off the floor.”

Abel was part of three 20-win seasons and two WNIT wins with head coach Dan Burt at Duquesne.

In 2023-24, Duquesne had six players reach 1,000 career points.

Megan McConnell, a former Chartiers Valley standout guard who recently signed with the Phoenix Mercury, was one of her players with the Dukes. Abel was selected to the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association Next Generation Institute, a program for up-and-coming coaches.

Southmoreland’s all-time leading scorer with 2,327 points, Abel was a talented 3-point shooter and passer during her time in a Dukes uniform from 2009-13.

She played in Germany, Sweden and Romania before turning to coaching.

Seton Hill: Coach Maeve Gallagher added a new assistant to her staff: Tori Rizzo.

Rizzo was a three-year starter at Pitt-Johnstown, where she averaged eight points and grabbed 280 rebounds.

Rizzo coached for three seasons as an assistant at Walsh before joining the Griffins.

She spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Detroit Mercy before serving as an assistant for one season at UPJ.

She is a graduate of New Philadelphia High School in Ohio, where she was the District 6 player of the year as a senior.

Women’s golf

Westmoreland County Community College: Freshman Jada Ford (Yough), the only women’s golfer at WCCC, finished eighth at the NJCAA Division III national championship at Chautauqua Golf Club (N.Y.).

She carded a four-round total of 394 (102, 100, 93, 99).

The finish, the highest in program history, earned her second-team All-American recognition.

Volleyball

Hiram: Paige Cole was hired as an assistant coach for the women’s and men’s teams at the Division III program that competes in the PAC.

Cole is a former Seton Hill standout. She earned All-America status and was an All-PSAC First Team pick as a senior when she led the Griffins in kills (382) and kills per set (3.98).