The Nickerson Showcase serves multiple purposes as a fitting cap to the prep basketball season in 2024.
It's a rare time during the winter for college coaches to get an extended look at New England's elite talent. It's also a measuring stick for NEPSAC programs and a chance to get an early glimpse at playoff contenders.
I took in as much basketball as I could from Friday through Sunday. It's still early in the season, but I learned a lot about teams I was excited to see get tested, as well as some surprise schools I hadn't watched yet.
Here are five big-picture takeaways I have about where the top NEPSAC squads stand. Be on the lookout for my individual standouts too, coming later today.
1. Tabor, Nobles and Tilton are a cut above
The three NEPSAC stalwarts each faced legitimate challenges at different times this weekend. But entering winter break, they emerge a combined 21-2 — with those two losses coming from Tilton, against Tabor and Nobles.
Tabor earned a grind-it-out win against Loomis Chaffee Friday (50-41), steamrolled a great Wilbraham and Monson team Saturday (85-32) and fended off multiple hard charges from Worcester Academy Sunday (62-50). Coach Will Becker is confidently deploying 10-plus-player rotations every game because he knows the Seawolves have the depth. The Big Three of Kaelyn Carroll (Dedham, Mass.), Ava Black (Auburn, N.H.) and Liv Rodrigues (Dennis Port, Mass.) are carving up teams in transition, but they don't even need to do too much yet.
Meanwhile, Nobles' Big Three — Jasmyn Cooper (North Easton, Mass.), Ashley Dinges (Haverhill, Mass.) and Christina Pham (South Boston, Mass.) — continues to light courts on fire. The Bulldogs had to fend off a phenomenal effort from Hoosac in Friday's 77-68 overtime win. After that, they owned the rest of Nickerson, with dominant victories against top-10 foes Loomis Chaffee and New Hampton.
Tilton logged the most convincing stretch of the weekend, disposing of Wilbraham and Monson (59-43), Sacred Heart (62-44) and Northfield Mount Hermon (62-46). That last win against NMH was convincing and proved Tilton belongs in the top tier, even with its two losses. One NEPSAC assistant coach said there's no more dangerous team in January than the Rams, so watch out.
2. Class A has some competition
The widespread expectation this season has been that, though Class A fields plenty of solid teams, the championship would be Loomis Chaffee's to lose for a fourth straight year. This weekend showed the title has a few worthy challengers.
Sacred Heart went 1-2 but gave AA riser Darrow a competitive Friday nightcap (41-34 loss) before falling to Tilton on Saturday. I caught them at their best Sunday morning in a lopsided, 68-36 victory against a shorthanded Winchendon team. Coach Ayo Hart really got her team to dig in defensively after a slow start, and Sacred Heart has a lot of length and quickness among its guards, led by Eva Wilkerson and Aisha Hassan. 2027 wing Lucianna Parrotta also impressed me with her confidence as a scorer.
Similarly, Choate's guard group stood out. Choate went 1-2 at Nickerson, also losing to Darrow as well as Class B stalwart Rivers. But they prevailed in a back-and-forth battle Sunday against Storm King, 61-49. Postgrad transfer Anisa Akinola is the only 2025 player on the roster, but speedy 2026 guard Abby Kim (Berlin, Conn.), classmate Kyndal Box and 2027 guard Sky Burke (Meriden, Conn.) all stepped up and made big shots in different moments. Kent, last year's Class A finalist, also beat Storm King in a 54-53 thriller that came down to a Kaya Nuttall (Standish, R.I.) layup in the final seconds.
Meanwhile, Loomis Chaffee dealt with some hurdles in its own 1-2 week. Star center Alicia Mitchell (Springfield, Mass.) sprained her ankle midway through the Pelicans' 50-41 loss to Tabor. Though it's only believed to be a minor setback, Mitchell was held out for the remaining two games, in which Loomis faced a lopsided loss to Nobles before bouncing back against Greenwich Country Day. I'd still consider Loomis the favorites, but all three of Sacred Heart, Choate and Kent will be tough playoff outs.
3. Don't sleep on Worcester Academy
Despite going 1-2, the Hilltoppers generated some of the most buzz of the entire weekend. They opened a chaotic Friday matchup against New Hampton with a 20-5 lead, hit a wall, trailed 46-33, then nearly came back to ultimately lose 49-47. Saturday, Worcester Academy took care of business against Milton Academy, and then Sunday they gave Tabor one of its most difficult games of the season in a 62-50 loss. Multiple opposing NEPSAC coaches I chatted with commended Dan Sullivan for how the team looks in his first year as head coach.
The Hilltoppers simply fight as hard as any team in NEPSAC. Junior forward Ella Getz (Wayland, Mass.) has been one of the winter's breakout players with her two-way versatility. The guard depth, led by St. Bonaventure's commit Elyse MacDonough (17 points vs. Tabor), senior Saige Youngberg (Wales, Mass.) and sophomore Gracyn Barnes (Auburn, Mass.), has flustered opponents by forcing turnovers and playing with pace. They're 4-7 but have now given Tabor, Nobles, Tilton and New Hampton real scares.
4. Hoosac could play AAA spoiler
The very first game of the weekend almost rocked the NEPSAC world when Hoosac took Nobles to overtime in a thriller. Hoosac then powered past both Winchendon and Rivers in double-digit victories despite being dealt one of the tougher scheduling hands of the weekend with noon, noon and 9:30 a.m. start times.
Carolina Williams and Anna Moser (Rutland, Vt.) are an electric backcourt, with either capable of taking over a game. Then Hoosac also has strong, physical forwards led by Uliana Doronina and Ava Mamone. Mamone scored 18 points in Sunday's 45-34 win against Rivers. Hoosac hasn't appeared in our NEPSAC power rankings yet this season, but that's about to change.
5. First-year coaches are figuring things out
Rivers and St. George's are two well-regarded programs with new head coaches in Kenny Small Jr. and Angelina Marazzi, respectively. The season starts have been rocky, but both coaches earned important wins to close 2024.
Rivers went 2-1 with victories against Choate and Greenwich Country Day before its Sunday loss to Hoosac. I watched the game against GCDS, where Seton Hall commit Natalia Hall-Rosa (Randolph, Mass.) took over before 2027 guard Kelsey Johnson (Acton, Mass.) hit a huge 3 to seal the win. In total, that was three wins in four days for the Red Wings, who also beat Cushing in their home holiday tournament Thursday.
St. George's only played one game after wrapping up its own holiday tournament, but it was a big one: a 62-61 triumph against Wilbraham and Monson on Sunday. 2026 guard Gianna Nichols (Fiskdale, Mass.) led with 19 points and Emily Ryan (Middletown, R.I.) hit the game-winning free throw to improve the Dragons to 4-4. St. George's has alternated losses and wins, but this latest result should give the team serious momentum into the holiday break.
