Among the seven members of NEPSAC girls basketball's new Class AAA, six made last season's AA playoffs. That includes Hoosac, which hopes to parlay last year's historic season for the program into more success.
Hoosac made the Class AA playoffs for the first time as a No. 7 seed, finishing with a 16-7 record. The westernmost AAA school believes its prepared to match the standard set by its class opponents.
"It's going to be competitive, and I think every game, it's just it's going to be higher level basketball, which for me, I love it," coach Julie McBride said. "(We) just have to kind of sustain that every year, bringing in better players."
Here's what to expect from Hoosac this winter.
Carolina Williams sets the tone
McBride has been coaching and training Williams since seventh grade. Now a senior standout and UNH commit, Williams (Valatie, N.Y.) has the full trust of her head coach to orchestrate the offense and define Hoosac's team culture.
"We have a relationship that is really great where I trust her completely on the court, even off the court," McBride said. "Every kid I want to have Carolina's attitude, body language, enthusiasm (and) her leadership."
Williams averaged 14.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.5 steals per game in her first NEPSAC season last year, reaching Class AA All-NEPSAC status. McBride lauded Williams' decision-making and direct approach to playmaking as a 5-foot-9 point guard. Her steadiness will be key as Hoosac's roster undergoes significant change.
"She dribbles with a purpose," McBride said. "She's always been a point guard that — she makes the right decision, she doesn't turn the ball over, and she's not flashy. She's not dribbling 1000 times to do a step-back three. She doesn't do that."
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Anna Moser's game-changing addition
Few New England-area players made their mark this offseason like Moser. The reigning Vermont Gatorade Player of the Year transferred to Hoosac and reclassified to 2027. In her first runs with the team at the NEPSAC Scholastic Showcase in June, Moser (Rutland, Vt.) starred with her blend of quickness, shooting touch, and relentless activity level as a cutter.
McBride, who wanted to be more observant, and less coach-heavy during the showcase, took the chance to observe how Moser and Williams worked together in the backcourt. She said they were so in sync together that college coaches who weren't even recruiting the two came to McBride after to compliment their synergy, not knowing they had met for the first time barely a week prior.
"They'd never played together before, and that just shows what kind of unselfish point guards and high I.Q.'s both have," McBride said.
Moser racked up double-digit Division 1 offers just this spring and summer, including high-major schools like Boston College and Syracuse. McBride is excited to see both Moser's immediate impact and her long-term trajectory.
"She's good now, but she wants to play pro," McBride said. "So she knows that she has to take her game to another level. Just mentally, physically there's a few things that she needs to work on."
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Going the distance
Hoosac graduated seven seniors from its top team, so even outside of Williams and the transfer Moser, there are a lot of moving parts. McBride touted Uliana Doronina, a junior wing from Russia, as perhaps her most naturally skilled player and a breakout star to watch. Norah Osu Azurmendi, Ava Mamone and Maggie Bishop lead the additional depth.
With a rotation largely defined by highly-skilled guards, McBride wants to lean into her focus on playing fast and aggressive, particularly on defense.
"We're gonna continue to play very quick and (with) ball pressure on defense," she said. "Who we are (and) what we do is: Our defensive identity really comes first, and we play hard on defense and have fun on offense."
One way to condition her team for that mentality of relentless pressure: running. All the Hoosac basketball players run cross-country in the fall, which McBride also coaches. They're not laying down the weekly mileage of a typical cross-country team, but instead focus on sprint and hill workouts that translate better to hoops.
"By the time we start basketball, they're in good shape," McBride said.
