This is the final installment in a three-part series unpacking the state of Boston girls basketball. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
As the Brighton girls basketball team warmed up for its Jan. 30 home game against New Mission, Jai'Reona Brown-Carter and Adriyana Chandler called out to make sure the Bengals were ready for tip-off.
"Tuck in your shirts!" they exclaimed to their four teammates.
Brown-Carter is the captain and best player on the Bengals. On this day, she was grieving. Her cousin's funeral services were taking place immediately after the game, and coach Molly McDonough told Brown-Carter she could leave anytime.
Brighton trailed 22-9 at the half in a contest they had little chance of winning. Sixteen spectators attended the game. Brown-Carter did not come out for the third quarter; McDonough thought she looked like she was about to cry, and Brown-Carter took a phone call from her aunt in the locker room. But before the fourth quarter, Brown-Carter reappeared on the sidelines and went to McDonough to sub in. McDonough told her she didn't have to — processing her cousin's passing was more important — but Brown-Carter wanted to play.
Brown-Carter has stuck with four years of varsity basketball under four different head coaches, and is also a proud cheerleader and track athlete. She had never picked up a ball before Brighton. Yet she's developed such a love for the sport that she would rather play the final quarter of a 47-27 loss than sit out and cope with her personal tragedy.
"It actually distracts me from a lot — reality, low-key, from family stuff at home," Brown-Carter said before the game. "It's really fun. It just drives me more to keep going with my life."
