Sophomores Bella and Ava Mazur share lives, schedules, love of basketball
LINWOOD – A pair of starters on the Mustang girls basketball team have opponents – and on occasion referees – seeing double.
Twins Bella and Ava Mazur are sophomores at Mainland Regional High School and have been playing basketball together since second grade. The Linwood pair has been practically inseparable and don’t have any plans for that to change.
Not only do they have a love for basketball (a family trait), but they share a bedroom, have an identical class schedule at MRHS and plan to go to the same college together.
They were coached by their dad until eighth grade and their familiarity with each other’s games makes it possible for them to play in synch when they’re on court together.
“We always know where we’re going,” Bella said. “Our passes go right to each other. It’s almost like I have eyes in the back of my head. I know where she’s going every single play.”
Bella and Ava are identical, wearing their long brown hair in the same style and when that hair blocks the numbers on their jerseys, it can add to the confusion.
“It’s a lot of fun having the two of us (on court) because they don’t know which is which,” Bella said. “It’s hard to tell us apart. They know by our numbers, but sometimes our hair is covering it.
“Sometimes the refs get us mixed up with fouling. Three (Ava’s number) fouled, but they call it on me (No. 5), and I’m like, ‘What?!’ But we understand because we’re twins,” Bella said.
“It’s the best,” Ava said of having her twin as a teammate. “Just the feeling of having someone just like you, who looks exactly alike, and having someone right there for you, especially during games.”
Ava said she is close to all of her teammates, but “in close games, having my twin sister right there … it’s different having a twin sister right next to me.”
“We’re taking every game day by day and it’s just really fun to be out there with my twin sister,” Bella said. “We don’t know what the game is going to be like. We’re trying not to start off with slow starts. Coach keeps telling us before our game, ‘Let’s take it right to them,’ because that’s how we’re going to get a roll going.
“That’s the plan, just to hustle every play because you don’t know when it’s going to be your last,” Bella said. “Every time before my game my mom says, ‘Give it your all because you don’t know when it will be your last.’ Last year we were the only team that didn’t get shut down (because of COVID-19) so we were really lucky to have that chance.”
Their brother, Luke, is a 2020 MRHS graduate who played basketball for the Mustangs.
He now plays at Widener University “so we’re a really big basketball family,” Bella said. “We watch every game, even if it’s not Mainland, if it’s live-streamed. We just love basketball.”
Bella noted they decided to focus only on basketball this year.
“We played soccer our whole life but we took a break (in the fall season) because we wanted to focus on basketball because last year we had a shortened season,” Bella said. “We wanted to make sure we were all settled in for this season.”
“I’ve had a couple of sisters come through the program, but never twins,” coach Scott Betson said. He is impressed how they are with each other, “just the way they love being around each other. Sometimes there’s a little rivalry thing (between sisters), but they have none of it. I think it’s really cool to see because there’s never any ill will between them. They love being around each other and the basketball is a manifestation of that.”
Their style of play is alike in many ways.
“I think they’re similar in that they’re really tough players. They’re strong,” Betson said. “They shoot the ball well. They get to the rim really well and rebound. When they really get after it defensively, it’s a whole other level because it really gets them going in transition and both of them can really run the floor.”
“We’re best friends,” Ava said. “We share a room. We do everything together.” And when they talk, the subject is what one might expect.
“Most of it is basketball. Other than that is school,” Ava said. “It is literally all basketball. We have every class together. It’s just school and basketball.”
Now that they are sophomores, Ava and Bella are still spending most, but not all, of their waxing moments together.
“This year we both have boyfriends so it’s the first time we’re separated,” Bella said. “When she’s hanging out with her boyfriend, I’m hanging out with my boyfriend. It’s the first time we’ve ever been separated. We’ve been together our whole life.”
Their closeness should continue beyond the walls of Mainland Regional.
Do they plan to go to the same college? “Yes,” Bella said. “Definitely,” Ava added.
So have they chosen the same career path as well? “Not yet,” Ava laughed.
