It was magical.
The 2025-26 regular season could be considered the best combined performance by Thomas Jefferson basketball teams in school history.
Dom DeCicco is in his 19th year of coaching the boys team.
“I think it’s great,” DeCicco said. “Matt (Gould) has done such a remarkable job with the girls. He lost his second-best player with a torn ACL before the year started and still managed to win 20 regular-season games.”
Gould is a more recent addition to TJ basketball, taking over the girls team in 2022.
“It’s rare and special,” Gould said of the 40-4 composite record by the two squads. ”Dom and I are close, so we’re having fun with it. And we are proud.”
TJ’s boys squad finished 20-2 overall and 12-0 in Section 3-5A. The Jaguars were rewarded with the third seed for the WPIAL playoffs.
“I really don’t pay much attention to the seeding process,” DeCicco said. “The only thing we can control is how we play, and we hope to make a run in the playoffs.
“We know you’re one-and-done at this point of the year. What you’ve done up to now means nothing. But our goal is to try to win the WPIAL.”
Prior to the district tournament, TJ’s boys won 11 of their last 12 games after starting the season with nine consecutive victories. The Jaguars averaged a lofty 67.5 points per game — the second-best mark in 5A — and allowed 54.7 ppg.
“I thought we found different ways to win and got better as year went on,” DeCicco said. “I think the main thing is these young men come to work hard every day and they learn from their mistakes. Not every team is like that, not even the talented ones, but these guys really work hard every day.”
The boys team has been led by 6-foot-6 senior guard/forward Nick Trklja, the team’s leading scorer the past two years. Trklja, whose grandfather was from Serbia, joined the Jaguars’ 1,000-point club this year in a nonsection win at home over Montour.
“I think Nick‘s biggest strengths are his ability to get to the rim this year and to make clutch shots,” DeCicco said. “He’s gotten so much better from last year.”
Trklja ended the regular season with a 22 ppg average and 1,197 career points. He averaged 18.7 ppg as a junior and racked up 884 points in the past two years.
DeCicco employs an eight-man rotation in games utilizing the talents of Trklja, 6-4 junior G/F Justin Fry, 6-1 junior G/F Kane Eggerton, 6-2 senior forward Brady Kraus, 5-9 senior point guard Josh Gardiner, 6-2 sophomore guard Noah Sear, 6-3 senior forward Jeff Raible and 6-foot junior Nathaniel Rice.
“Justin Fry has been fantastic,” said DeCicco, who is in his 19th season at TJ. “He is averaging almost 19 a game and is our leading rebounder.
“And Josh Gardiner has had an assist-to-point ratio of two and a-half to one. He has been a great leader.”
Eggerton has developed into the Jaguars’ best defender while Kraus focuses on being the team’s quarterback on offense.
“Kane has been our best defender by far,” DeCicco said, “and only cares about us winning. Brady has also played the right way this year. He’s made several key shots for us and shares the basketball very well.
“And our bench has been great all year. Noah is starting to heat up right now shooting the ball, Jeff gives us energy off the bench, and Nathaniel is a great defender and he’s getting better every day.”
Other key players include 5-9 senior point guard Josh Gardiner, 6-2 senior forward Brady Kraus and Noah Sear, a 6-2 sophomore guard and a transfer from Seton LaSalle.
“Four of the seniors (Trklja, Kraus, Gardiner, Raible) have been playing travel basketball together since third grade,” said Kraus, who will continue his hoops career at Carlow and major in elementary education.
Raible is also a quarterback/defensive back on the TJ football team.
“We work hard every day to improve on defense, perfecting our offense, making each other better and playing together as a team,” Raible said. “We want to be a tough (basketball) team to play against. We also want to make the team and program stronger for years to come.”
Thomas Jefferson’s girls team also racked up a 20-2 regular-season record and a 12-0 mark in Section 4-5A.
The Jaguars were assigned the No. 2 seed for the WPIAL tournament.
“I’m extremely excited,” Gould said. “It’s a testament to our hard work.”
TJ took a 12-game winning streak into the playoffs and 16 victories in its last 17 contests. The TJ girls averaged 59.5 ppg — again, the second-best mark in 5A — while allowing 40.3 ppg.
It’s relatively easy to spell out a key reason the TJ girls have been so successful.
The Jaguars are led by 5-10 senior guard Maggie Spell, a Campbell commit who averages 17.5 ppg. Spell was a third-team all-state selection last season and has scored more than 1,600 career points.
“Maggie can flat-out play,” Gould said. “She’s a tough matchup because she can score in multiple ways and knows how to put the ball in the hole. And she’s a great passer. She a phenomenal scorer and passer and just a real hooper.”
TJ advanced to the WPIAL semifinals and PIAA second round a year ago, losing to Peters Township by three and four points in the two games.
With nine returning letter winners including four starters on this year’s squad, the Jaguars were looking to produce another banner season in 2025-26.
“I was extremely happy with the way our team played this year,” Gould said. “They were locked in, mature and business-like from Day 1. I expected us to be competitive and do well but certainly didn’t expect this.”
Gould said there are several reasons for TJ’s success in the regular season. The Jaguars finished first in Section 4-5A with a 12-0 record.
“They care,” he said. “They practice year-round. They are wonderful kids. They can hoop. And they buy in.”
Spell has been joined in the starting lineup by 5-8 senior point guard Riley McCabe, who will play at the next level at Frostburg State, 6-1 junior forward Allie Wilson, a Mercyhurst recruit, 5-5 junior guard Emily Hritz and 6-foot junior forward Emma Altavilla.
“These are the balance of our starters and they all make us go,” Gould said.
Other impact players include 5-5 junior guard Molly Pugh, 5-9 senior forward Leah Lockhart (Penn State Behrend) and 5-4 freshman guard Mycah McCabe. Giuliana Mendel, a 5-3 sophomore guard, also has helped out in a reserve role.
Other top freshmen include Emily Garcia (G), Vanessa Warden (G/F) and Emily Myers (F).
The Jaguars unfortunately began the season with a painful loss as RMU recruit Kaylee DeAngelo, a 5-6 junior guard, was lost for the year with a knee injury.
TJ coasted past No. 15 Penn Hills, 65-26, in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs Feb. 13 as nine players reached the scoring column for the Jaguars.
Spell led with a game-high 24 points and was complemented by Hritz’s 14 including four treys.
Altavilla (9) and Riley McCabe (8) combined for 17 points while Wilson, Lockhart, Pugh, Myers and Garcia chipped in with two apiece.