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Double Vision Is A Very Good Thing For Holy Family Women's Hoops

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Division II Holy Family University women's basketball team finds itself in familiar territory once again this season, right near the top of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Standings with a 15-5 record (10-1 in the CACC).

Two big reasons for this success for Holy Family are Kelly and Kylie Giedemann, sophomore guards from Washington Township High School in Gloucester County, New Jersey, who also happen to be twin sisters.

The pair have had a ton of success playing together at every level, but Kylie, who is nine minutes older than Kelly, says it wasn't always a slam dunk that they would head to the same college.

"Honestly, in the beginning I was like, 'We need to be separate, I don't want to go together,'" Kylie tells KYW Newsradio. "But as I was approaching the end of our junior year, I was like, we really need to do this together. And this was a perfect fit for us."

Listen to the entire interview with Holy Family's Kylie Giedemann

 

It also continued a really special family legacy as Kelly and Kylie's mother and father both also played college basketball for Holy Family.

Kelly says she has started to take stock of how unusual and special playing with her twin sister at her parents alma mater truly is.

"I definitely think this year more, I'm kind of realizing how cool and a unique thing it is," Kelly tells KYW Newsradio. "Because (at first) I'm like, 'Yeah, my parents went here.' Now it's like, 'No, my parents both played here. Me and my sister both play here.' And it's cool because my parents' friends will come to the game. It just brings a good camaraderie for our family as well."

Listen to the entire interview with Holy Family's Kelly Giedemann

 

The Giedemann sisters are combining to score more than 22 points a game this season (Kylie 11.6, Kelly 10.8) and they really contribute in different ways across the board.

"They play hard," Holy Family head coach Mark Miller tells KYW Newsradio. "They can defend, they can take it off the dribble, they can shoot the three. Do they work well together? Yes. I think they compliment each other really well. They know where everybody's going to be, they know where they're going to be. I think they are so used to playing with each other all these years and they've just taken it to the college level and its been a success for them."

Listen to the entire interview with Holy Family's Mark Miller

 

Kelly says they also push each other.

"I think especially when we're guarding each other," Kelly says. "Just because we know each other so well, that we're always looking to develop different skills and go harder at each other. So I think we're always pushing each other in the offseason and during the season."

Miller says one of the biggest challenges for him when the Kelly and Kylie arrived on campus was telling them apart.

"Everybody was making fun of me early when they got here," Miller says. "And there are still times when I'm calling one the other and everybody laughs at me."

Safe to say, Miller is far from the only person that has confused the two.

"Sometimes I don't want to interrupt them when they actually think they are talking to Kelly but I'm like, 'No, it's me,'" Kylie says with a laugh. "So that's really the only time I just kind of let them go and then I'm like, 'Nope. This is Kylie.'"

But Kelly says having twins on the floor at the same time has, at times, helped to confuse opponents.

"Especially in high school," Kelly says. "And even now, they're like, 'Which one do you have? I have her! No, I had her!' So it definitely does help once in a while."

And opponents better get used to it, because the Giedemann twins still have two years left at Holy Family, not to mention the rest of this season and they plan to continue to make each other the best player they can be.

"I just feel like we really feed really well off each other and it's just that connection that you can't describe," Kylie says. "I guess it's just like being twins, it's just that connection you can't really describe to people. It's different than just having a brother, sister, another teammate. We've been playing together since we could walk."

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

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