With success comes recognition, and there's been plenty of success this season for the Wilbraham & Monson Academy Girls' Basketball team.
WMA landed three players on the Western New England Prep School Girls' Basketball Association Class C All-Star team this season.
Kayla Mokwuah '18, Courtney Thrun '17 and Annika Bruce '17 will represent the Titans at the league's all-star game, which will be played March 5 at 3:30 p.m. at Loomis Chaffee in Windsor, Conn. Annika will be making her second appearance as an all-star, while first-year players Kayla and Courtney will be making their first.
"For us, it says a lot because you usually only get one or two all-stars, and we got three, which speaks to the growth of our program," Coach Durelle Brown said. "Us being an upper-echelon team, second or third in our class this year, they gave us three all-stars. It's not only a testament to those three players but the whole team. Without the screening and passing and obvious togetherness, those three couldn't have the success they had this year. This is a team award and a team effort."
Kayla is averaging 24 points and, remarkably, 20 rebounds this season for the 15-4 Titans, who are ranked third in Class C with one regular season game remaining. Annika is averaging 10 points and 5.5 assists, and Courtney is also averaging 10 points.
The statistic Coach Brown is most proud of, though, is his team assisting on 65% of its baskets, which speaks to the unselfishness of this group.
"I'm proud of us as a program," Coach Brown added. "When I read that email yesterday, I thought, 'we've arrived.' The hope is we will play in the championship game at 1:30 and then mosey over to the all-star game at 3:30. It's a great time for our program and we're trying not to settle in on some success, but wanting more."