CRLS Girls Basketball
With captains Kalkidan Mamo and Ella Simonson both being injured, many team members have stepped out.
February 28, 2019
The girls basketball team has gotten off to a flying start this season with an 11-1 record entering February. The team went 2-1 through the first three games, but they then went on to win nine straight games, including an unbeaten month of January.
The team has excelled despite multiple obstacles. Captains Kalkidan Mamo ’19 and Ella Simonsen ’20 are both out for the season with injuries. Mamo, who recently signed to play Division 1 basketball at UMass Lowell, was sidelined by an ACL tear early in the season, and her co-captain Simonsen is out with a shin injury for the remainder of the season.
Simonsen has watched the team succeed from the bench for much of the season. “It’s great to see the girls really working hard and coming together as a team. We’ve definitely had our ups and downs, but every day we’re getting in the gym working hard and trying to get better every way that we can,” she said. “I’m super excited to see what the rest of the season brings; hopefully, we can be as successful as we have the first half of the season.”
Simonsen also praised the work of other players in the absence of two of the team’s stars. “With two of our captains not being able to play, everybody else has definitely pitched in and pulled their weight.”
Many players have stepped up since Simonsen and Mamo were injured, but one player has stood out in particular. Freshman guard Sophia Vital has had a great season. In a win over Lowell earlier this year, she managed to record a quadruple double, with an exceptional statline of 10 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds, and 10 steals. This performance also earned her the headline of the Boston Globe’s “Player of the Week.”
The team qualified for the state tournament in late January, facing several tough teams, including DCL rivals Westford Academy, Acton-Boxborough, and Newton South.
The team started the month of February 1-2, with a tough loss against Westford Academy. Westford, a perennial competitor for the DCL crown, handed CRLS a tough defeat in an overtime game where Cambridge was beaten by one point. Despite these bumps in the road, the team remains confident that they are capable of being one of the best teams in the state.
The team’s successful season has been recognized around the state as well. The team has made a showing on the Boston Globe’s “Top 20” state rankings, and the team also sat as high as tenth on the Boston Herald’s rankings.
The team hopes that they can finish their season strong and continue to push through the injuries that have hit the team hard. The team also hopes that a good February can set up a run deep into the state playoffs.
This piece also appears in our February 2019 print edition.
