Cheswick Christian girls basketball team short on numbers but has ‘ton of heart’

By: Ted Sarneso
Wednesday, November 19, 2025 | 7:44 PM

Being an assistant on the Cheswick Christian girls basketball team last year, Nicole Dias had firm knowledge of the team she would inherit coming into 2025-26.

Although the roster is small — eight players this season — and inexperienced, returning just two regulars from a year ago, Dias says her team has a competitive fire.

“We may be young, but we’re mighty,” Dias said. “They have a ton of heart.”

Nothing exemplified those characteristics more than when the team played in a 10th grade-and-under tournament last year.

The Chargers played three games back-to-back one afternoon and had only had six players available.

“It was a tough string of contests,” Dias said. “My daughter, Maddie, had both her ankles stepped on, got poked in the eye and was bleeding. None of our girls gave up. I was so proud of how they played.”

Dias took over head coaching duties in October and wasted no time in getting her team together for a meeting and a court session.

“As soon as I got the job, I got ahold of the girls and said, ‘Meeting on Monday, we have no time to waste’,” recalled Dias. “We needed to get on the court as soon as possible. We’ve been working as hard as possible to be as competitive as we can this year.”

Coach Dias inherits a team vastly different than the one her predecessor Clinton Blazevich had at the beginning of last season.

Last year’s team came off a season in which it had played 19 games (finishing 9-10), was 7-1 in conference and had a trio of leaders in seniors Melissa Bodack, Abigail Louis and Lauren Weng.

This year, Dias’ oldest players are juniors Aubrey Bierly and Grace Kostick after graduating five seniors from last year.

“It’s going to be a team-building type season for us,” Dias said. “Getting the fundamentals down, developing these girls. Aubrey and Grace will be my co-captains, and they’re both excited to help me lead these younger players, get them in shape and be a strong leadership presence.”

The only other high school-age player is freshman Ulianah Rasulova, who missed all of last year with an injury, but has experience playing with the girls on the roster on the middle school team.

Being a small Christian Academy, Cheswick is allowed to pull from its seventh and eighth graders to help fill its roster.

There is a trio of eighth graders who return from last year’s team in Maddie Dias, Phebe Kralik and Gabby Beatty, who will be in the running for starting roles.

Fellow eighth graders Harminy Johnson and Sydney Murray complete the small roster for the Chargers.

One thing the entire roster has in common is they all have played for Coach Dias at some point whether that was on the high school team last year or coming up playing on the middle school team.

“A lot of these girls I already know on a personal basis because a lot of them are my daughter’s friends,” Dias said. “It’s good that we already know each other pretty well.”

The only downside to needing to play eighth graders is Cheswick will not have the opportunity to schedule any WPIAL teams on its nonconference schedule.

It’s nothing new as the team played strictly a conference schedule last year because of the same circumstance, finishing 5-7 overall and 5-3 in conference play.

“Our hope is to build experience this year, and, once we’re a year older next year, we can play some of those WPIAL games, build more experience and be competitive,” Dias said.

Knowing what she has and the type of competition her team will face fills Dias with excitement for the season to come.

“It’s a highly skilled conference and with us being a young team, I don’t think a lot of people believe we’ll do a lot,” Dias said. “We’re young, but mighty and I think we’re going to surprise a lot of teams, a lot of people.”

Cheswick Christian Academy girls at a glance

Coach: Nicole Dias

Last year’s record: 5-7 (5-3 in the Greater Pittsburgh Division of the SWCAC)

Returning starters: Aubrey Bierly (Jr., F), Grace Kostick (Jr., G)

Others to watch: Uli Rasulova (Fr., F), Maddie Dias (8th, F)

Note: Schedule is TBD

Tags: Cheswick Christian