After starting off 3-3, the girls varsity basketball team (GVB) went on to win the next 12 games and finish their regular season 15-4. The team’s seven seniors and coaches led the team through two of the most successful seasons in the high school’s history. The team has won back-to-back Bay State Championships and went into the playoffs this year ranked fifth in the state.

This success story began well before the players came to the high school. Several of the seniors played on the same Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team in middle school. Girls varsity head coach Kendell Jones started coaching some of these players when they were in 6th grade.

Senior and captain Faith Rothstein said growing up playing with her GVB teammates and working with Jones from a young age created a unique environment this year.

“I remember Kendell coming to our practices in 6th grade and being like ‘you guys will change the narrative,’” Faith Rothstein said. “Most of us grew up together, playing together, so we knew how to motivate and bring each other up.”

Jones said he focused on this group of students because he saw something unique in the way they played.

“They had skills that for their age it was like ‘wow, if they keep going, they’re gonna be great players. When they get to high school with that skill set, this could be a scary team,’” Jones said. “I told this senior class that they were going to be the ones to change the perception and the narrative of girls basketball at the high school. And they did.”

The popularity of the girls basketball program has fluctuated over the years. When Jones first started coaching in 2009, they filled three teams: varsity, junior varsity (JV) and freshman. He said that as time went on, other sports became more popular and basketball tryout numbers dropped.

Senior and captain Margo Mattes moved to Brookline her junior year and has played with GVB for the past two years. She said before this group of seniors got to the high school, the program was not taken as seriously.

“These last two years we turned that around and we were like, we can be a top seed and Brookline can do it but you have to have people who are willing to put in the time and effort,” Mattes said. “I hope that it isn’t just like we had a good two years and then it went back to what it was. Next year it’s basically going to be starting over with a new team and I’m hoping that the freshmen, sophomores and juniors have seen this is what the team can be and try to keep it going.”

Attendance at GVB home games has increased over the past few years. Senior Iris Liebman said she was happy to see more people showing up.

“My freshman year, I would go to the games and there would be no fans in the audience. No one really went to games and didn’t think it was a fun sport to go watch. My grade has transformed that because we’ve been going further and we had a ton of fans. The Superfans showed up at our playoff games and had a lot of people who were excited about our season,” Liebman said.

According to senior and captain Talia Thompson, the team’s progress over the years has been evident and makes their success all the more special.

“I think we did really well. I’m very proud of how far our team got and what we accomplished, especially with my freshman year not starting with the best record. And then now to make it to playoffs, that’s pretty awesome,” Thompson said.

Senior and captain Geanna Bryant credits the success of this year’s team to hard work and dedication.

“We all cared about our sport even when no one else really cared about it,” Bryant said. “We worked over the summer, we would get together, shoot around. Other people started caring about our sport and took it seriously when we did the same.”

Along with hard work, Liebman said that the relationship between teammates was a major factor in the team atmosphere.

“We’ve all been really excited about the games and have spent a lot of time together for team bonding or just hanging out at someone’s house on Fridays, after games or over the weekend,” Liebman said. “That really helps us and pushes over into how we play because we know each other so well and are really close.”

Bryant said all the coaches played an instrumental role in creating a positive team environment.

“Outside of basketball, we all have a strong relationship with all our coaches, especially [Jones]. All our coaches are guidance counselors and social workers. They know how to communicate and talk to us. [Jones is] such a role model. He puts in so much work and invests so much time that we do the same,” Bryant said.

GVB made it to the round of 16 this year where they fell to Springfield Central. According to senior Jenna Lazowski, despite not making it as far as they would have liked, it is still important to celebrate the season.

“It’s important to celebrate how far we got. After our last game over the weekend, we went up to New Hampshire all together which was really nice. We’ll likely have an end of season celebration with our families, which should be fun,” Lazowski said.

According to English teacher and GVB parent Nicholas Rothstein, along with creating a positive environment, Jones and the other coaches have had a profound impact on individual players, including his daughter Faith Rothstein.

“Kendell Jones has been a really important role model for her and an important structural piece that helped her grow in basketball. And not just Kendell but the whole coaching staff really helped her become the strong contributing player she is,” Nicholas Rothstein said.

According to Liebman, the seniors and coaches have taken several steps to prepare their younger teammates to step up in future seasons.

“We would have combined practice with JV and do conditioning practice with them every Saturday. Working with the younger people and giving them a sense of what it’s like for varsity is really important. We’re also really close with everyone on JV. We go and watch all their games and support them and they will stay and watch our games,” Liebman said. “Then for the people on our team it was making sure they felt welcome and including them in everything.”

Jones hopes the seniors take the lessons they learned through GVB with them into the future.

“You have a common goal and everybody has to bring their best self and their best attribute in order to attain that goal,” Jones said. “You learn how to deal with people, you know how to get through hard times. You just grow and become a team player, and those kinds of things you need to do anything in life. This is my advice to them: take what you learned throughout your years of playing basketball and apply it to life.”

Jones said the group of seven seniors positively impacted the girls basketball program at large and him on a personal level.

“This group has been with me through some of my hardest moments in my life. I think some of the powerful things I’ve gotten from this group is the concept of family and how important it is to lean on people for support,” Jones said. “I’ve seen them grow and they’ve seen me grow. They’ve babysat my kids and we just have this family environment. I couldn’t ask for a better team.”

Lazowski, Liebman and Rothstein all hope to continue playing basketball in college at the club or intramural level. Bryant is planning to play at the varsity level. Thompson is committed to Colby College where she will play both varsity soccer and varsity basketball at the Division III level. Mattes is headed to Princeton in the fall, where she will play Division I varsity basketball.

The seniors are leaving a legacy of hard work and dedication that they hope will be continued by lowerclassmen. Jones said the group has made a profound impact on the program.

“[Their legacy is] a little bit of you get out what you put in; don’t hold back, you play each game like it’s your last. They’ve really set the tone,” Jones said. “Now this freshman class has to live up to what they’ve set, so the bar is high now. We went from barely having people in the gym to a packed gym. They’re leaving behind this expectation to put your best effort into anything you do and have this family environment and all support each other.”