The Newtown girls’ Grade 6 travel team went undefeated to win the New England Basketball Championship in Tiverton, R.I. March 14-16. The competition is a qualifier-based tournament for travel/community/school teams only and features top competition from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

In the title game, Newtown defeated a travel squad from Wolcott 31-21 in triple overtime. The game was intense as it moved into extra time with amazing moves from all Newtown team members. The final two points that broke the tie and sealed the win were made on the free throw line by Edie Franse.

The team is led by coaches Jeff DiVito, Heather Franse, and Roman Cebulski. After the game Coach DiVito said, “This team is filled with competitors from top to bottom. That made practices intense, which helped each girl improve throughout the season. They all play tough and extremely hard. They usually ended up being the smaller team in stature but certainly not in toughness and grit. They manage to push through difficult situations together as a team and were able to end the season with an incredible run in the New England States tournament. I couldn’t be any prouder as a coach with this group.”

The team consists of Edie Franse, Emily Murphy, Emma Rancourt, Farrah Cebulski, Kelly Tito, Maddy Nowacki (absent), Millie Pettit, Olivia Donigian (injured), Rylee Pantan, Sage Maddox, and Serena DiVito.