Basketball - Boston.com

High School Basketball

(Jim Davis / Globe Staff)

Family shares the court

Jasper and Nicky Grassa, like many siblings, feed off each other on the court, each able to anticipate the other’s next move. The Grassa brothers also have a pretty good sense of the mindset of their head coach at Lynn Classical: Their father, Tom, has been a fixture on the Rams bench since 1985.

Globe North 5 players, teams to watch

Boys basketball 2009-10 preview

English has edge in pick-up

This was supposed to be a rebuilding season for Lynn English after the team graduated six rotation players from last year’s Division 1 EMass championship squad.

Boys Globe preseason top 20

Girls basketball 2009-10 preview

MVC powers share spotlight

The Andover girls’ basketball team outscored Central Catholic by a combined 29 points in their two regular-season games last year. But after falling to Lowell, 50-48, in the Division 1 North semifinal, the Golden Warriors had to watch from the sideline as Central Catholic went on to win the state championship.

Girls Globe preseason top 20

Millis senior sets tone for state champs

Millis High senior cocaptain Molly Breen hits the floor hard and gets up every time stronger -- just as her team has come to depend upon.

Globe West 5 players, teams to watch

Scituate guards suit up for last act

Rodney Beldo and Sam Malone first met when they were in sixth grade, as opponents in AAU basketball. After playing against each other for a season, the two point guards decided they wanted to be teammates.

Globe South 5 players, teams to watch

Courtside chatter

High 5 Rodney Beldo, Scituate: The Sailors senior guard had 25 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds in the close 62-61 victory over Hingham.

Rams are tough and hope to deliver

The team slogan, “Ram tough,’’ is printed on the back of their green-and-white warmup shirts.

King, Bowman ignite Babson’s hoop start

With former Framingham High star Kathleen King and former Arlington Catholic High standout Becky Bowman of Melrose producing stellar play, the Babson College women’s basketball team is off to a 7-2 start.

Groton-Dunstable succeds by pushing ball up

Keith Woods traces his up-tempo, push-the-ball philosophy to a coaches clinic he attended nearly 15 years ago at the College of the Holy Cross, in which Paul Westhead , then head coach at George Mason University, was one of the day’s speakers.

Last-minute save leads Newton South girls’ coach to his hoop dreams

It wasn’t the first time he had these thoughts. End it all? Sure. What the hell.

Somerville players adapt to changing roles on court

One of the top-scoring guards in the Greater Boston League, Franklin Salvadore, is used to shouldering the offense for the Somerville High boys’ basketball team. After averaging 16 points per game as a junior, the 5-foot-9 Salvadore plans to pick up where he left off.

Courtside chatter

High 5 Aaron Barbosa, Dracut: The senior guard poured in 21 points to propel the Middies to a 3-0 start with a 76-46 win over Haverhill.

Courtside chatter

HIGH 5 Molly Breen, Millis: Senior forward scored her 1,000th point in a 54-39 Tri-Valley League win over Norton on Monday.

Courtside chatter

FIVE GIRL PLAYERS TO WATCH Rashidat Agboola, Methuen: The 6-foot-1-inch senior combo guard and BU recruit led the Merrimack Valley Conference in scoring as a junior (20.1 points per game).

Tigers again on the prowl

By now, Greg Kelley is accustomed to the usual questions at the start of every season, and his answers are well thought out.

Courtside chatter

Five girls’ players to watch Lauren Battista, Oliver Ames: The three-year starter, headed to Bentley next fall, averaged 23 points and 11.5 rebounds last winter as a junior and surpassed 1,000 career points.

Hearing impairment hasn’t kept Faieta from leading St. Mary’s basketball

LYNN - Tori Faieta was positioned to the left of the basket as her teammates on the St. Mary’s girls’ basketball team ran through an offensive set. She looked to the top of the key for senior guard Bria Tiro, who communicated the play selection using both hand signals and her mouth.

Christian stays unbeaten in OT

The regulation 32 minutes wasn’t long enough to decide a champion in the Madjerec tournament yesterday. It took until the final seconds of overtime for South Shore Christian (4-0) to bring home tournament honors with a 61-59 nail-biting win over West Bridgewater (2-1) at South Shore Vocational Technical in Hanover.

Courtside chatter

5 boys’ players to watch Greg Kelley, Newton North: The 6-foot-9 Yale-bound forward has agility and a soft touch, making the three-time Bay State Conference All-Star a threat on the boards and from the perimeter.

Oliver Ames team player Lauren Battista chooses next one: Bentley

NORTH EASTON - With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter against Hockomock League rival North Attleborough last week, Lauren Battista was receiving high fives from her Oliver Ames’ teammates and coaches as she headed to the bench.

Wheaton basketball squad relying on cocaptains

Wheaton College head women’s basketball coach Melissa Hodgdon has set the bar high for senior cocaptains Andrea Bailey of Needham and Jenny Champney of Bedford.

Valerie Driscoll shoots for third state hoop title with Archbishop Williams

The Catholic Central Conference is not exactly a beacon for “bigs’’ banging down low in the post, which is precisely why Archbishop Williams senior Valerie Driscoll , a 6-foot-4 center, can’t wait to step onto a court in the Big Ten.

More than a game is on the line

CAMBRIDGE - Rumeal Robinson scaled the pinnacle of American sports in April 1989, an ice-in-his-veins basketball player from the streets of Cambridge who sank a pair of pressure-packed free throws to vault the University of Michigan to a storybook national championship.

North Reading’s Kristen Morrison, skilled in three sports, faces a tough choice

The choice, once again, is hers. Kirsten Morrison is a two-year varsity starter in three different sports at North Reading High, and she is not yet a junior. This summer, she feels, is decision time. With an eye on the future, should she focus full time on basketball, softball, or volleyball?

Newton North’s Kelley commits to Yale basketball program

It’s safe to say the Ivy League has known about Greg Kelley’s basketball exploits - and his smarts - for a while.

Byron takes over at Oliver Ames

Don Byron is well versed on the Oliver Ames boys’ basketball program. He’s an Easton resident and his son, Michael , was a three-year starter, a career 1,000-point scorer, and a captain for the Tigers this past season.

Two Brookline basketball stars heading for Brown

Brookline’s Tucker Halpern and Sudbury’s Andrew McCarthy both measure 6-feet-8. The pair also developed their low post moves and shooting touch on the courts of the Independent School League, just a few miles apart. And this fall, the promising tandem are headed to Brown University together, as a part of second-year head coach Jesse Agel’s first recruiting class.

BABC captures Boston Shootout

Leo Papile has seen the future and he likes it. "I have high hopes. This team is the focus group of the program right now. This group is a national contender and five of nine of these boys are only 15 years old," said Papile, referring to his Boston Amateur Basketball Club 16-and-under team that lived up to its billing ...

BU's O'Brien may transfer

Days after completing his freshman year at Boston University, Jake O'Brien, a former Globe All-Scholastic in basketball from BC High, is considering transferring.

St. John's Labove leads his team to state championship

As the St. John's of Shrewsbury boys' basketball team broke its huddle for the fourth quarter of the Division 1 state final on Saturday, Matt Labove turned to the deep sea of Pioneer faithful on the other side of the court and raised four fingers.

For Notre Dame, Milton hoopsters, a winning day in the life

WORCESTER - The Notre Dame Academy girls' basketball team started the day like any other with an afternoon state tournament game: breakfast at the Hingham home of Kelsey Reilly, the team's starting point guard.

Watertown, St. John's walk off DCU Center floor with state titles

WORCESTER - "I'll be there in 10 to 13 minutes," reads Ricky Morrissey with a grumble to anyone within earshot, as he displays a friend's text message to a few of his Watertown High teammates nearby.

Courtside chatter

HIGH 5 Allie Beaulieu, Swampscott: Big Blue coach Jack Hughes called the victory in the Division 3 North final the biggest win for his team in 20 years, all because it came against Pentucket. Beaulieu played no small part in it, drilling three 3-pointers and scoring 20 points.

CM boys can't be superseded

After a drought that seemed longer than the four years it was, Catholic Memorial reclaimed the Super 8 crown and thus captured the top spot in the final Globe boys' hockey Top 20.

NorthWest Courtside chatter

HIGH 5 Nicole Boudreau, Andover: The freshman guard capped off a stellar first season by helping propel the Warriors to the Division 1 North semifinals. She drained an impressive 88 three-pointers this season.

'One' path to victory

WORCESTER - It began with the silent bus ride. En route to each away game this season, not one word was uttered by a single Central Catholic girls basketball player - a rule imposed years ago and never questioned by each new batch of players.

Dream chasers

WORCESTER - An hour before the first tip-off of the day, the DCU Center seats were empty, occupied only by the echo of basketballs bouncing off the court. There were six state championship games on the slate. When the final buzzers sounded, six teams stormed the court with hands in the air, while six others had their heads in their ...