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Hillers girls hoops brings experience to court this season

by | Dec 12, 2023 | Sports

The Hopkinton High School girls basketball team is looking to bounce back this winter following a losing season in 2022-23, and coach Mike Greco said the Hillers have enough varsity minutes under their belt to run up more games in the win column.

“They are all experienced now; they all played minutes last year,” Greco said. “Even though we didn’t win as many games as we would have liked, we now understand the varsity speed and the level of physicality and what it’s going to be like.”

Added Greco: “We are certainly ahead of where we were at this time last year.”

Hopkinton brings significant depth to the floor this season, so much that Greco is hard-pressed to identify who his top two or three players might be.

“We have a well-balanced group,” he said. “We joke all the time that everybody is the same size, but that means that everybody can also play a lot of different positions.”

The Hillers have four seniors in Caroline Kane, Elena Davies, Kate Finnegan and Bethel Flanagan. All four are beginning their third seasons at the varsity level.

“They have been around for a while and provide great leadership,” Greco said.

Juniors Holly Paharik and Meghan Grady also are experienced varsity players, beginning their third and second seasons with the team, respectively.

“Holly provides a ton of toughness,” Greco said. “Meghan gives us an outside threat.”

The Hillers also have a pair of sophomores, Teagan Resteghini and Sofiah Wightman Kraus, both of whom played on the varsity last season. Greco said the game is “slowing down for them” this winter now that they are more accustomed to high-level play. Freshmen Julia Chatten and Ada Monopoli round out the roster, and Greco said they likely will compete for minutes.

Greco said the team’s experience and camaraderie are its biggest assets.

“I told the kids on the first day of tryouts that we had two goals: Number one is to have fun and enjoy playing basketball, and number two is to compete to the best of our ability in everything we do,” Greco said. “We want to focus on what we can control, and never walk off the court thinking we could have played harder and wish we hustled more.”

Hopkinton figures to face numerous competitive games in the Tri-Valley League. Greco points to Medfield and Norwood as two of the top teams in the Large School Division. Westwood is another team that plays hard and is well coached, Greco added, saying the Wolverines “will be right there as well.”

But Greco is hoping that the Hillers’ experience playing together will help them succeed against the TVL’s best.

“The kids generally like being together; it’s very much the same group as we had last year,” he said. “We are hoping that chemistry spills over onto the court.”

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