The Harvard select girls basketball team of fifth- and sixth-graders won the Central Massachusetts Youth Basketball League (CMYBL) Division 2 championship on Sunday, March 10. Seeded second in the league, the team faced Clinton, which was ranked first, at Clinton High School and won in overtime 27-26.
The win was hard fought, with the game going into overtime when the two teams tied the score at 23-23. With three minutes added to the clock, and Clinton with the bonus (Harvard had five fouls in the fourth quarter, which allowed the opposing team two shots for every additional foul called), players refused to give up the win. The teams traded shots, and in the final seven seconds of the game, sixth-grader Hannah Roy scored for Harvard and secured the win.
The Harvard team was coached by parent volunteers, with Brian Turbide as head coach and Jeremy Crochiere and Ben Marciniak assisting. Separate from the town recreational teams, which are governed by the Harvard Athletic Association and participate in the Nashoba Youth Basketball League, the CMYBL team is subject to different rules and regulations. For instance, there is no equal playing time rule, and both teams are allowed full-court press as long as neither is in the lead by more than 8 points.
In a postgame interview, Turbide said he was proud of the team, which had “a ton of energy.” The team lost to Clinton by 1 point earlier in the season, which Turbide believed was front of mind for the players. The need to take the win was palpable. “We had a great group of kids on and off the court. Very coachable and [they] got a little better every week.”
—Julie Gowel
Front row, from left: Claire Lybolt, Zoe Crochiere, Aine Clarke, Anna Turbide, and Jimmy Charles. Back row, from left: Coach Ben Marciniak, Susie Gowel, Abby Marciniak, Hannah Roy, Head Coach Brian Turbide, Antonina Camardo, Lucy Hunt, Emily Nohl, and Coach Jeremy Crochiere. (Courtesy photo)