DGAL wraps up basketball championships

Mar 9, 2019

The Dartmouth Girls Athletic League Senior and Pony leagues wrapped up championships on March 9 with wins by Arizona and UConn, respectively.

The Senior championship game between Arizona and Boston College was won by Arizona, with a final score of 16-8. The Senior league is made up of players in fifth and sixth grades.

“Defensively they played well,” said Arizona head coach Kevin Houlihan. “They didn’t give up a lot of points.”

Houlihan said the team had a good season, and all the girls got better over the course of it.

“We all played good defense,” said Arizona teammate Ava Oliver as she reflected on the team’s win. Oliver’s favorite moment of the season was making an especially long shot.

Teammate Annie O’Neil said her favorite part of the season was seeing her friends improve.

Boston College coach Tony Sbardella was pleased with his team’s performance, and said that the girls had fun and learned a lot over the season.

“The girls all gave it everything they had,” Sbardella said.

The Senior game was immediately followed by the Pony (16U) championship between UCONN and Boston University, which UCONN won 13-11. The game was a nailbiter, with a UCONN player securing the win with a buzzer beater. The Pony league includes 7th and 8th grade players.

Beth Caldwell, the UCONN coach, said that two of the team’s three losses were to Boston University, including a playoff game earlier in the week, as DGAL has double-elimination playoffs. The close ties between many of the girls on the teams makes the competition especially fierce, as they know each other very well and can play defense accordingly.

“We had a great season,” Caldwell said. “It was a really, really great group of girls. A lot of heart.”

Caldwell credited the girls for their hard work and hustle, and said that every girl on the team scored at least one basket.