Lady Eagles Currently Ranked #1 Class C Team in New York State
This year, all the pieces seem to be in place for the girls varsity basketball team at Duanesburg High School to have the season of a lifetime. In fact, as of December 19, the New York Sportswriters Association ranked them as the #1 Class C team in the entire state.
The team has set goals for this year, including a WAC championship – a Section II title – and yes, a New York state championship, which would be the district’s first-ever state team title in any sport.
While their goals might seem ambitious, the roadmap to the 21-22 season was set nearly a decade ago, when the team’s current starting lineup was just in elementary school.
Coached by high school social studies teacher Chris Herron, the team is led by senior captain Madison Meyer, a five year varsity player who scored her 1,000th career point as a sophomore. The other four members of Duanesburg’s starting lineup are sophomores, some of whom have held starting positions for the varsity team since they were in eighth grade – Allison O’Hanlon, Hannah Mulhern, Alex Moses and Lauren Capron.
“When our current sophomore players were in about second grade, everyone realized that this was a really special group,” Herron said.
“Ever since then, it’s been a true community effort to grow these players to the varsity level,” he added. “Their parents committed themselves to the cause and we’ve had some amazing youth coaches like Pat O’Hanlon, Ryan Moses and Chris Parslow who have helped these young ladies become really well-rounded, confident basketball players.”
Herron also commended the Duanesburg Youth Basketball program, led by Jennifer Martin, for having a tremendous impact on the district’s overall basketball program, and this year’s team specifically.
Meyer, who has committed to play DIII basketball for Skidmore next year, says she is grateful to be sharing the court with her teammates this year. “The sophomore players on the team have really high basketball IQs, which isn’t necessarily something that can be taught. It comes from experience. They’re really hardworking and determined athletes, but they’re also just great people,” she said.
While the team’s starting lineup is a very talented group, Coach Herron says they are supported by a skilled bench of players, consisting of four seniors (Dianna Esa, Ilayna Guevara, Ella Moses and Cassidy Miakisz) and one sophomore (Kate O’Hanlon) – all of whom have played basketball together for years.
Herron said he has no doubt that the seniors on this year’s team will put everything they have into their last season wearing an DCS Eagles jersey. “Regardless of the final record this year, this team will definitely be one to remember,” Herron said. “Their skill and enthusiasm for the sport has really made an impression on younger athletes in the community who are learning from them and seeing first hand what it takes to be a top notch athlete.”
“We’ll lose some valuable senior players after this year, but we have two more years with this current slate of sophomores. As a coach, I feel really blessed to be part of the legacy these players are leaving behind,” Herron said.
