Winning is fun, and the Wilbraham & Monson Academy Girls' Basketball team had an absolute ball last weekend.
Coach Durelle Brown and the Titans dominated the field at the Kingswood Oxford Invitational Tournament in Connecticut Dec. 15-17, winning all three games by double digits to claim the championship.
Coach Brown, who attended KO, previously participated in the KIT as a player, assistant boys' coach and head boys' coach for his alma mater, coming up short each time in his quest for a title.
In his second trip to the KIT while with WMA, there was no stopping the Titans, who beat Governor's Academy of Massachusetts 61-47, Lawrenceville of New Jersey 71-50 and Winsor School of Massachusetts 81-58.
"I got a little chocked up (after the game) and I thanked the players," Coach Brown admitted. "As I was talking, the players didn't even let me finish; they just walked up and gave me a hug. I was thanking them. I would be lying if I said I hadn't been thinking about winning that tournament. We won and it felt good."
What also felt good was how the Academy played. In each matchup, the opponent tried to play its way back into the game, and each time the Titans weathered the storm and made their lead even bigger.
"There's a ton of things I'm taking from this tournament," Coach Brown reflected. "The first three games of the season, we're a huge run team, but we'll give you a run. I remember saying to them before the championship game that the previous two games in the tournament we went on big runs and then we sustained. I told them if we could do that in the championship game, we'd be really good.
"The growth is learning how to prevent another team from making a run."
Kayla Mokwuah '18 and Alana Perkins '19 were named to the All-Tournament team. Kayla jammed her shooting hand early in the second game, against Lawrenceville, and still managed remarkable numbers.
"I told Kayla, in a bad game for her, she still had 11 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks and four assists," Coach Brown said. "She didn't shoot but she got other people shots."
In the biggest game of her brief WMA career thus far, Alana was brilliant, leading the Titans with 25 points, including eight 3-pointers, in the final vs. Winsor.
"I told her this was a milestone game for her because this was her biggest game in a WMA uniform and she showed up and played her best game," Coach Brown explained. "She made threes, she rebounded, she stayed mentally in the game and she defended."
Below is a list of the top scorers for each game of the tournament:
Friday, Dec. 17 vs. Governor's Academy, W 61-47
Kayla 34 points, 25 rebounds, 7 blocks; A.J. Washington '19 17 points
Saturday, Dec. 16 vs. Lawrenceville, W 71-50
Alana 17 points; Ashley Ambrosino '20 12 points; Ingrid Salvador '19 11 points; Kayla 11 points, 13 rebounds, 5 blocks, 4 assists; A.J. 9 points; Alex Garrison '18 9 points
Sunday, Dec. 17 vs. Winsor, 81-58
Alana 25 points; Kayla 19 points; A.J. 15 points, 11 assists; Ashley 11 points