'We just love each other so much': Despite outcome, Wachusett seniors savor special bond
LOWELL ― Hannah Best was a sideline spectator last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament as the Wachusett Regional girls’ basketball team made its second straight Final Four appearance.
Happy and healthy after putting in months of hard work, Best was a tad tentative as her senior season got underway in late November.
“I was definitely nervous at the beginning of the season and playing very cautious,” Best said following the Mountaineers’ 48-40 loss to top-seeded Bishop Feehan in the Division 1 state final before a sea of green at the Tsongas Center.
“But throughout the season I built up my confidence. I’m just so happy to be back with this team. They’re like my sisters. No matter the outcome, I’m just happy we were together to the end.”
The second-seeded Mountaineers biggest lead was 3-0, and they trailed for the game’s final 26 minutes. They cut a 14-point deficit late in the third quarter to two points late in the fourth before losing for the first time this season.
They finished 24-1 to give them a three-year record of 68-5 after going 8-0 in pod play during the COVID-shortened 2021 season.
“We look at the positives, and although today didn’t go well, we’re just so proud of each other,” said senior Liz Cain, who will continue her academic and basketball careers at Amherst College. “We’ve been with each other all these years, and we just love each other so much.”
Best (4 points, 5 rebounds) was a three-year varsity player while U.S. Naval Academy-commit Mary Gibbons (16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals), Rileigh Leary (5 points, 2 rebounds) and Cain (8, 5) made the varsity as freshmen.
The Mountaineers also will see Lillian Chaisson, Caitlin Ciccone and Olivia Reidy graduate in the spring, so they’re losing seven super seniors who have been teammates together for the better part of a decade.
“We’ve been playing together since fourth grade, so we’ve known each other for so long,” said Best, whose dad, Jim, was a standout basketball player at Holy Name and Assumption in the 1980s. “The chemistry is just so strong I can’t even describe it. We hang so much off the court, on the court.
“It’s just so easy to get along. We just know each other so well. We know our strengths, and we know our weaknesses. Again, I’m just so happy to finish it out with them. They’re all like my best friends.”
While the Mountaineers will have to replace a ton of talent, Oxford said the program is healthy and will remain competitive going forward.
But what the seniors brought to the team and the communities of Princeton, Holden, Paxton, Rutland and Sterling was special indeed.
“My daughter, who plays fourth grade travel, says she hopes she can shoot someday like Mary Gibbons or another kid on the fourth grade team says she wants to be able to block shots like (sophomore) Jaelynn Scott,” Oxford said. “They don’t know those things right now because they’re teenagers, and they’re not thinking like that right now.
“But I tell them all the time, ‘That’s a really cool thing when you have little elementary school kids who idolize and admire you. You’re setting such a great example for those younger kids.’ That just keeps the health of the program going. That’s what they bring to it.”
—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @RichGarvenTG.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: State final loss doesn't diminish impact Wachusett seniors had on the program
