By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Tri-County’s girls’ basketball team recorded an 11-5 season last winter, finding themselves losing to only three teams. The record earned the Cougars a number 43 seed in the Division 4 State Tournament, where the team did not do well in their first-round game and was sent home with a 49-31 loss.

Juniors Kerin O’Connolly, Leah Hall, and Neila Schweitzer will be key players in building Tri-County Girls’ Basketball this season. Photos used courtesy of Julie Caffrey.

 

 Coach Julie Caffrey is hoping that, despite the new vocational tournament alignment by the MIAA, her girls will be able to qualify for the post-season, something Tri-County hasn’t done in as long time. In addition, qualifying through the new power ranking system the MIAA has also incorporated three new divisions (small, medium and large), Tri-County is currently teetering between the small and medium division at the time of this writing.

“In the past, it was strictly based on your won/loss record,” Caffrey said. “Now, with the new power ranking, teams that we could benefit from playing don’t want to play us, as it doesn’t help their cause.”

Playing in the large division of the Mayflower League, the Cougars will still find themselves tipping off against some tough teams that regularly play in Divisions 1-3, which will be beneficial to the team’s power ranking. Tri-County will also play some tough Cape Tech Schools during the regular season.

Although the qualifying standards have changed, Tri-County still needs to overcome its biggest challenge in order to get to the post-season – scoring.

“In the past, we’ve had some quarters where we didn’t score at all,” the coach said. “We know that we have to put the ball in the hoop to be successful. Over the first part of the season, we will work on our defense, and the rest of the year we will focus on our scoring.”

In addition, the team will unfortunately be without its senior center Ava Gill, her tore her ACL during the later part of the lacrosse season and will remain sidelined. According to the Coach, Gill was the only real height the team had coming into the winter campaign. 

Without Gill, Caffrey will rely on three juniors who have been with the squad since their freshman years. The coach also hopes she may get some height from incoming freshman.

Junior Kerin O’Connolly, the team’s starting point guard and leading scorer, averaging 11 points per contest will be looked upon to increase her scoring this winter now that she is a year older and wiser on the court. According to Caffrey, Tri-County’s offense will run through O’Connolly.

Another junior, Leah Hall, had a breakout campaign last year as the team’s shooting guard, and the coach is looking for her to use her quickness and aggressive play on defense. Hall will also be regulated to guarding the opposition’s best player slowing them down and keeping the team from getting going.

The final junior that will be looked upon to guide the team this year will be Neila Schweitzer, who, although playing forward last year, has also seen some earlier time as a guard. Schweitzer plays tough down low and will battle with the best of them, and although not the tallest girl on the team, she definitely will play up to her competition. She is an important key to the Cougar’s success and brings a lot of knowledge to the court.

Last year, then junior Becca Hall, playing in her first varsity season, started out slow and eventually picked up her game, but the outside shooter found herself benched near the end of the season with an injury. Caffrey noted that the senior is ready to go this year. 

Tri-County will also have two sophomores looking to help the cause on the court this winter. Both Ava Simoes and Addi Kunicki are guards that were swing players last year, but really didn’t see a lot of action with the varsity club. Simoes is a quick individual that can not only shoot but drive to the basket while running the JV team. Kunicki is a tough defensive player that will share the point guard job with O’Connolly, allowing the juniors wing play to open up. 

If all comes together, and everyone plays their part, the Cougars could finally make it back to the postseason, where they might have some success.