Championship Saturday Highlights from Bellingham Youth Basketball

The 2022-23 BYBA season was provided with an action-packed finale on Championship Saturday when Honey Dew Donuts narrowly squeaked out a win 29-28 over Nick Cerio’s Kenpo Karate. It was a hard-fought game that was back and forth down to the final moments. Honey Dew’s whole team contributed to the win with Aibhlin Cunningham hitting a huge free throw in the final moments to help Honey Dew hold onto the victory despite the opposing teams best efforts.

The 3-6 Honey Dew Donuts played their best basketball of the season when it mattered the most, winning 3 of their last 5 games to win the championship. Anchored by two 8th graders in Ella Park and Julia Magill, the whole team was able to get it done down the stretch. Shannon Marino provided great defense and scoring throughout the season, Emily Bishop and Ava Donato provided intensity and Aibhlin Cunningham, Gianna Lonergan and Tyla Tofani all made key contributions for the stretch run.

This season with the challengers myself (Kate MacNeil), Coach Jim Begley and his daughter Melissa Begley led this season.

Coach Jim always says “we start as a team; we end as a team,” and we do every week. These kids learn skills and drills to improve not only their skill but socializing skills as well amongst their peers.

Special thanks to hard court helpers :Ainsley MacNeil,Bernadette Pierce, Lucien Stenehjem,Ari Hinds. They help these kids and form bonds. Without them, we couldn’t do this.

The Green Beans Team prided themselves on playing a Defense first style. They set goals every game on how many points they would let up per game. They bought into this system by putting in hard work during their practice time. The leaders of the team made sure everyone was involved in the game by giving them responsibilities on offense or guarding the best player on the other team on defense. This was a great group of boys who listened and worked on making sure they got better during the season. Great Job boys, the coaches are very proud of you!

This was the 4th meeting of the season for these two competitive teams.  Prior to the championship game, team PJ’s had won two of the three regular season matches, so team McKeown knew they had their work cut out for them. In the first half, team McKeown built a small lead, but both teams got into some early foul trouble to keep things interesting.  In the second half, team PJs made a couple of runs that brought the game within a possession or two.  However, the strong play of Brock Barry (game high scorer finished with 25 points) and Dougie Walton (who pitched in with 11 points) propelled the team McKeown to victory.  Mason Cerone, Landon Voss, Michael Puopolo, Kawan Ribeiro, and Matthew Kelley all made positive contributions and helped ensure team McKewon never relinquished the lead once throughout the game; the final score was 51 to 42. We’d be remiss not to mention Zachary Lane and his contributions to team cookie monster throughout the season. After a brief hiatus due to Covid the SR League returned this season. Playing every Sunday at the middle school under the direction of coach Joe Bird and Donnie Murray, the boys began the season playing “pick-up” style basketball each weekend. After 5 weeks coach Bird and Murray picked teams and played a best of seven series with Coach Murray’s team coming out on top. The season culminated with a free throw contest won by Jack Bird, a three-point contest won by Tyler Enright and one final game won by Coach Murray’s team.

Gallo’s Moving and Storage had a fantastic season. We started the season off strong and after a couple tough losses we were able to regroup and finish in first place during the regular season. Even though many of the girls were new to basketball they were able to work together as a team and learn from each other. Each week their skills improved, and it showed on the court.  Entering the playoffs, the team put an emphasis on defense, and it really made a difference down the stretch. In the final game both teams fought hard, but the girls were able to get the win by defeating Dairy Queen 16-8. 

Grumpy’s was a team to reckon with since the start of the season only dropping 2 games in the 9 game regular season, finishing 2nd in the standing, earning the team a 1st round playoff bye. Grumpy’s, led by 4th graders Ryan Forbes, Luka Borges, and Jamie Marcogliese, would hold a half-time lead in every game but 1, an 18-16 deficit during their 2nd round playoff game. This resilient group would battle back and take that game by a double-digit victory, propelling them into the Championship showdown everyone wanted. 

Saturday, February 18th, Championship Saturday - the stage is set as the top 2 teams (#1 TLC Janitorial versus #2 Grumpy’s) from the Boys 3rd and 4th grade league square up for their 3rd head-to-head game of the season. Much like the 2 regular season matchups, where TLC Janitorial took game one 28-26 and game two 36-35, the game was tight and intensely played for the full 40 minutes. However, unlike the first two games, Grumpy’s held on to a thrilling, nail-biting 37-34 victory, taking the League Championship!