Dartmouth High School seniors Katherine Cheesebro and Kate Sullivan, both 17, and Remy Barber, 18, have been playing basketball together since they were four years old so it is no surprise that their last year playing together is proving to be bittersweet.

“We’ve worked so hard over the years,” Barber said. “We’ve all grown up playing together.”

Cheesebro, Sullivan and Barber, co-captains of the team, may be the only seniors, but all who comprise the team are equally committed to a successful season of respect, support and camaraderie on and off the court. Those feelings, Sullivan said, extend to opposing teams as well.

“Most of us have been playing against each other on traveling teams since we were little,” she noted.

Respect for other teams notwithstanding, the object of the game is to win, and Sulivan said the competition is real. 

On Friday, Dec. 27, the Dartmouth Indians played and won their fourth game of the season against the Apponequet Lakers with a final score of 59-39, a win against a formidable team that Coach Brian Jalbert said is a testament to the lady Indians’ skill that he hopes will take them to the state championship.

“All the games are important, he said, “but it starts by winning these games” early in the season.

Cheesebro, Sullivan, Barber and Jalbert all said they still feel the sting of last season’s 40-38 overtime defeat against Whitman Hanson Regional High School in the Sweet Sixteen race and are working this season toward another run and hopefully a championship win.

No matter the outcome in the spring, the three longtime friends and teammates, none of whom plan on pursuing basketball in college, have gone into their senior year on the court with an eye on finishing their basketball careers by playing to the best of their abilities while creating lifelong memories.

“We’ve been playing so long together we just want to make the best of it,” Cheesebro said.