MANHEIM, Pennsylvania - The New Hampshire Spartans girls basketball program crowned two champions at last month's East Coast Nationals at the Spooky Nook Sports Complex.
Both the Spartans' sixth-grade and eighth-grade teams went 5-0 in their respective divisions en route to the championship. The tournament consisted of roughly 400 teams in all age brackets.
"It's pretty special," Director of Basketball and sixth-grade head coach Chris Coates said. "We played some teams that draw from much larger areas, but the girls worked hard. They did really well together. They were aggressive and it paid off. It was very special."
The Spartans beat Elevate Elite out of Richmond, Virginia, 42-19 in the sixth-grade title game, while the Spartans beat the Connecticut Falcons, 50-34 in the eighth-grade title game.
"It was pretty special," Coates said of the sixth-grade championship win. "None of these girls have been out of New Hampshire to play basketball for the most part. We've been to Massachusetts, but to go all the way to Spooky Nook in that big environment and that many teams, it was a first for all of us."
Eighth-grade coach Chad Cyr said many of his girls have been playing together for three years.
"We play with a lot of pace and really move the ball well," Cyr said. "The girls are really willing passers and are extremely unselfish. They're very willing and effective defenders. It just makes us really tough at a local level and we had a ton of success at the national level."
The sixth-grade team includes Harper St. Cyr, Madeline Spencer, and Ameila Casper all from Stratham, Exeter's Elliana York, Dover's Sophia Bethel, as well as Charlotte Dobbs, Caroline Courtney, Arianna Hurlbert-Nuzollo, Chloe Roosevelt and Brook Warnat.
The eighth-grade team includes May Atlee and Mattigan Williams, both from Stratham; Libby Estes and Emma Silversides, both out of York, Maine; Exeter's Raegan Crowley; Rochester's Griffin Demers; Lorelei Moriarty out of Kittery, Maine; as well as Delaney Sargent, Olivia McKay, and Kylee Houle.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: New Hampshire Spartans win two East Coast Nationals girls basketball tournament titles
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