No New England girls basketball team has been better across the last two years than Nobles.
The Bulldogs boast two NEPSAC AA championships and a combined 58-4 record. They have owned the region during that stretch with two of the strongest rosters in recent memory. The 2022-23 team featured seven future Division 1 college basketball players; six returned to help the 2023-24 squad finish 29-1. One of seven teams in the new Class AAA, Nobles isn't bothered by the expectations of a perennial powerhouse.
"I'd say that's just the standard," senior Ashley Dinges said. "Especially transferring in, seeing the way that Coach (Alex) Gallagher coaches — you come in here knowing that you're expected to work as hard as you can and win. So I think that's what everyone, especially all the new girls coming in, are ready to work for."
This winter, Nobles has questions to answer. Graduates Grace Oliver (now at Colorado), Nasi Simmons (Columbia), Tahira Muhammad (Dartmouth) and Tori Balser (Harvard lacrosse) left significant holes in the rotation. But there's plenty of star power left on the Bulldogs and contending for titles is a given. Here's how they're approaching 2024-25.
Beware the Big 3
Though the Bulldogs lost four rotation mainstays, they still field arguably the best trio in New England.
Jasmyn Cooper (Easton, Mass.), Dinges (Haverhill, Mass.) and Christina Pham (South Boston, Mass.) have started on the last two title teams. Cooper is ranked No. 47 in the national 2025 class by ESPN and has committed to Syracuse. Dinges will head to Providence, and Pham announced her Fairfield commitment last week.
Each brings a different elite skill-set. Cooper is the do-it-all passer, scorer and top defender as a 6-foot-1 wing. Dinges, another 6-footer, dominates with her power drives and relentless pursuit of rebounds. Pham lights up the scoreboard with her shifty ball-handling and perimeter marksmanship.
"Coop is one of the best playmakers I've ever coached," Gallagher said. "But what she does is, she's sort of described on our team as the eye of the storm. She's the one who sort of gives us that stability and is just always level-headed, and what she does brilliantly is she makes other people better. What Ash does brilliantly is that she has an engine. Unlike most kids that I've ever coached. She is just relentless, and that relentlessness bleeds into what everybody else does.
"And Christina — aside from her outstanding skill and playmaking ability and shooting ability — for her, it's just the sort of respect you have for the work she's done. I mean, the amount of shots and workouts and time in the gym, out of the gym, in the strength center — everything has been Herculean."
Cooper, Dinges and Pham cleared double-digit points per game last season but none surpassed Dinges' 15.2 points per game, a testament to the starting lineup's commitment to unselfish basketball. This year, the trio will have the ball in their hands a lot more, and Gallagher wants to see how they spread it around to teammates.
"To me, the judgment on the floor of Christina, Jasmyn and Ash is: How much do they raise the level of play of everybody who's around them?" he said.
Aliyah Allston-Pujols is building hype
One of those teammates is Randolph, Mass. native Aliyah Allston-Pujols, who is generating buzz as one of New England's top 2028 prospects. The 5-foot-10 guard impressed over the summer at the NEPSAC Scholastic Showcase, displaying a willingness to drive and defend with physicality despite her youth.
"She's definitely a name that's going to be talked about a lot in the coming years, and even now," said Pham, who also played AAU with Allston-Pujols on Shooting Touch. "It's super exciting to see her doing really well and thriving in our environment, and to see what that looks like in the NEPSAC the rest of the winter."
Allston-Pujols played occasional minutes off the bench as an eighth-grader last season as Gallagher watched her take on the expected confidence hurdles. Gallagher believes after spending a year practicing and competing with a regional powerhouse, Allston entered the summer with the sudden realization that she's a lot better than she used to be. She'll be a significant player this season who can raise Nobles' team ceiling.
"She's a kid who I think is an exceptional player and an interesting mix of a lot of the players that we just talked about," Gallagher said. "She can play a lead guard position. She can play the 4, she can (battle) with just about anybody. She's really worked on her shot. She's really worked on her finishing. She's a good decision-maker, and so somebody like her is critical."
Passing the torch
Last year, the focus at Nobles was to make the most out of a uniquely star-studded team. This year, the three senior captains have emphasized that, as much as they'd like to win, they're also leading a much younger team and are in charge of preparing the next era of Bulldogs.
"We lost four great seniors, four role models to this team (and) to me specifically," Cooper said. "Just taking on that big sister role, being able to bring that leadership (and) that competitiveness, but also that comfortability to the younger girls. Making sure that you're seen as a leader on the court, but you're also seen as leader off the court and a big sister, so they know they can come to you with anything."
Allston-Pujols is a key member of the next wave, but so are high-energy rebounder Vanessa Ellis (Attleboro, Mass.) and shutdown defensive guard Brynn Bryant (Dedham, Mass.). Freshman Catherine O'Sullivan, cousin of Rivers star Grace O'Sullivan, and eighth-grader Anabel Brooks are among the promising young core.
Gallagher has coached for 27 years, including 23 as head of the girls program. He knows the learning process will be an important part of this season. That's also what has him fired up for another run.
"There are people out there who think, 'Yeah, the senior class is great, but look what they graduated. Have they really taken a step back?'" he said. "Those are my favorite seasons. Those are the ones that I enjoy the most what the process looks like, whereas last year, I knew I was coaching, just based on pure talent, the best team I'd ever coached, and you spend the whole year holding your breath that it works out the way that it should."
"This year is one where I think we're going to be a lot better on March 3 than we are on December 3. And that's exciting, and that's the kind of thing, 27 years into coaching, that gets you fired up to come back."
