Robert Morris Picks Up Transfer Portal Commitment From Former South Fayette Standout

Robert Morris head coach Chandler McCabe has spoken at length about how important it is to be able to recruit the local talent in and around the city of Pittsburgh and for them to commit to the Colonials.

There will not be shortage if the amount of local talent that will be on the Colonials roster moving forward. That is a certain.

Just in this recruiting cycle alone, McCabe received commitments from two transfer portal players with Pittsburgh ties in former Chartiers Valley standout and Pitt transfer Aislin Malcolm and former Greensburg Central Catholic star and Mercyhurst transfer Bailey Kuhns.

On top of the two transfers, McCabe signed five incoming freshman to the program in November which included two more hometown standouts in Oakland Catholic’s London Creach and Kennedy Catholic’s Layke Fields.

That ended up not being the only four recruits with local ties to end up committing to McCabe and Robert Morris during the current recruiting cycle as managed to secure a commitment from another local recruit on Monday.

Former South Fayette star and Elon transfer forward Ava Leroux committed to Robert Morris, according to Brad Everett of Pittsburgh Union Progress.

Leroux is the daughter of former Pittsburgh Penguins player Francois Leroux. After a stellar high school career at South Fayette, the 6-foot-4 forward committed to Elon over schools such as Duquesne, Oakland, and Purdue Fort-Wayne among others.

In high school, Leroux was an instrumental piece on a South Fayette squad that went to the WPIAL Class-5A girls’ basketball championships in both the 2022 and the 2023 seasons.

During her true freshman year at Elon, Leroux appeared in five games and started three of them before tragedy struck. On a trip home, Leroux got into a car accident that nearly claimed her life. She spent three days in the ICU and six total days at the hospital as she underwent numerous surgeries and operations.

That accident sidelined Leroux from the game of basketball for a year before she returned to Elon as a redshirt freshman this past season. In her second season, Leroux eased back into competition before she started the final nine games of the season.

She averaged 4.4 points and 2.0 rebounds per game as a redshirt freshman. While Leroux only shot 79 total field goals all season, she converted on 38 of them for an efficient shooting percentage of 48.1%. She is a true center as she stands at 6-foot-4 and does not shoot the three, like at all. She attempted zero three-pointers this past season for Elon.

Ava’s commitment comes after McCabe and her staff recruited her younger sister, Juliette, who is a Class of 2026 recruit at South Fayette. Juliette visited Hoop Township back in June of 2024 just weeks after McCabe was hired as the head coach.

Leroux has three years of eligibility remaining and will be a crucial part of the team’s success in the 2025-26 season due to her imposing height on the glass. She marked the third transfer portal pickup for the Colonials this offseason and the roster currently sits at 11 scholarship players.