Sewickley's Skowron caps college career with strong season for Chatham women's basketball

Julianna Skowron ended her college basketball career in a big way.

After a successful four-year stint at Allegheny College, Skowron, a 6-foot-1 forward, competed at Chatham as a graduate student in 2021-22.

The Oakland Catholic product led the Cougars to their all-time winningest season in women’s basketball, netted her 1,000th career point Jan. 22 and was named to the All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference team.

“Jules has had an extremely accomplished college basketball career, starting at Allegheny College and finishing this season with us at Chatham,” said David Saur, the Cougars veteran coach. “She was a very lightly recruited player out of high school who turned into a big-time player at the Division III level — all a credit to her hard work and dedication to the game over the last five years.

“Jules was the ultimate pro in terms of her work ethic and mindset every day, never getting too high or too low. She was all about winning and doing what it takes to win. She set the standard daily. You wish you had four more years with her. I really appreciate the opportunity to have coached her. Our program is better for having had Jules in it.”

Skowron’s 1,000-point milestone highlighted a college career that displayed resilience and character, along with her hard work and dedication. She was presented the game ball Jan. 29 before Chatham’s home game against Geneva.

“It’s a great accomplishment and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to play at both Chatham and Allegheny,” Skowron, 23, said. “I do remember the shot. It was against Saint Vincent and it was a layup. After I scored, I was just in shock that I actually made it to 1,000 points. It was pretty crazy.”

A Sewickley resident and Chatham’s tallest player, Skowron is pursuing a master’s degree in business administration and a career in coaching and sports management.

Skowron was the Cougars’ leading scorer this season with a 10.5 points-per-game average and finished among the conference leaders in points, rebounds and field goal percentage.

She ranked first on the team in blocked shots (21) and second in rebounds (177), averaging 7.1 per game. She also had 31 assists and 15 steals and shot an impressive .848 (39 of 46) from the charity stripe while maintaining a 43.9 field goal percentage.

“Jules had a huge impact on our team,” Saur said. “She was the missing link in a lot of ways for our program. Her size, skills and high basketball IQ impacted our winning daily, leading to a program record for wins in a season.

“Jules was a matchup problem for most teams. Her skills are at a really high level for a forward of her height. Her mid-range jump shot is lethal. It might have been the best I’ve seen from a forward at our level, which is a credit to Jules and her hard work over the years developing that part of her game.”

As first-year graduate student, Skowron enjoyed a sensational debut with the Cougars, scoring 18 points, grabbing 20 rebounds and dishing out three assists Nov. 5 in the season opener against Penn State Greater Allegheny. Skowron made 8 of 12 field goals and was 2 for 2 from the foul line.

She attained double figures 15 times at Chatham, including a 25-point performance Dec. 18 against Geneva when she connected on 11 of 13 field goal attempts and 3 of 3 free throws.

“That was the game in which I scored the most points,” Skowron said, “but I’d say my best collegiate game was in my junior year against Kenyon when I scored 23 points and had 17 rebounds.”

The Cougars started out 7-0 in 2021-22 and ended with a 17-9 record following a one-game appearance as the fourth seed in the PAC tournament.

“I had a great time playing at Chatham,” Skowron said. “I’m grateful coach Saur gave me the opportunity to play and the team was extremely welcoming. It was also awesome to be on a team that broke the women’s basketball record for wins.”

Skowron competed from 2017-2021 at Allegheny. She said her time there flew by quickly.

She was team co-captain her junior and senior years and consistently was among the leaders in field goal percentage, points and rebounds in the North Coast Athletic Conference. She scored 848 points in her four seasons with the Gators.

During her senior year, Allegheny went undefeated in a season shortened to six games by the covid pandemic.

“I loved every second playing at Allegheny,” Skowron said. “We took a team trip to Ireland my junior year, and that’s the best memory I have. I had the opportunity to play overseas and explore Ireland with my teammates, which was really fun.

“Our first stop were the cliffs of Mohr, then we drove through Ireland to Cork, where we spent a few days and explored the city. We played one game in Cork then drove to Dublin and spent another few days there. We played two games in Dublin. After the games, we had another few days to explore Dublin.”

In Februrary of her junior season, Skowron was named National Player of the Week by d3hoops.com, averaging 23 points and 17 rebounds a game.

“My biggest career highlight at Allegheny,” she said.

Skowron majored in economics with a minor in communication arts at Allegheny.

As a junior, she ranked second on the team in scoring with a 12.6 point-per-game average and first in rebounds (184) and rebound average (7.7).

Skowron scored 19 points and pulled down 13 rebounds April 3, 2021, to lead the Gators to a 67-65 win over Penn State Behrend in her final game at Allegheny.

In high school, Skowron suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice as a sophomore that required surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation.

“It took me between nine months and a year to recover,” Skowron said. “After that, it took me about another year to be comfortable and confident playing.”

In Skowron’s senior season at Oakland Catholic in 2016-17, the Eagles started out 10-1, went 3-0 in the KSA Holiday Tournament in Orlando, won their section championship, racked up a 24-5 record, were WPIAL finalists and advanced to quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 5A playoffs.