It’s award season in the GBL

Everett, Malden, Revere girls basketball players join peers on the all-star team

  It’s awards season. The Oscars are coming up for the Hollywood types, but locally in sports athletes and fans alike have high school league all-stars to celebrate, while the postseason continues on for the teams that made it to March Madness.

Tide all-star duo leads teammates to the postseason

  In girls’ basketball, sophomore guard Emilia Maria Babcock and junior forward Malaica Guillaume are the Everett Crimson Tide honorees on this year’s Greater Boston League (GBL) all-star team.

  Coach Riley Dunn’s squad was 9-5 in the GBL and 10-10 overall. They made the Division 1 state tournament as the 40^th seed, where they lost to host Weymouth (12-10, 25^th seed), 57-33, in a preliminary round game. The Weymouth girls then fell to North Andover (15-6, eighth seed) in a Round of 32 game, 50-32.

  Guillaume scored all three points in the opening stanza against Weymouth, and she added six more in the second quarter. She finished up with 15 points. Babcock chipped in with four during the postseason opener, and her efforts helped her teammates break into double figures before halftime.

Golden Tornado earns star status

  Malden senior center Anna Yak joins the three Everett stars on the 2023 GBL elite team after leading her Golden Tornado teammates to an 11-9 overall record and a state tournament berth in Division 1, where they lost to Reading in a preliminary round game. Her efforts featured a four-game winning streak at the beginning of the season against Whittier Tech, Somerville, Salem and neighboring rival Everett.

Patriots get two on prestigious squad

  Revere junior center Belma Velic and freshman guard Shayna Smith demonstrated this past season that the future is certainly bright for coach Lianne O’Hara’s club; the team finished up with a 6-14 record. With Velic and Smith still on the varsity roster next year, the Patriots should be ready to take that next step to the postseason in Division 2.

Rounding up their GBL all-star teammates

  Here’s the rest of the 2022-23 GBL girls all-star roster: senior guard Ava Thurman, senior guard Lauren Hennessey, senior forward Akiyah Brown, junior guard Lauren Wilson and sophomore guard Keisha Perez of Lynn Classical; junior forward Jaeleigh Perry, sophomore guard Amara Flores and senior forward Matty Laurino of Lynn English; junior forward Bella O’Brien and senior guard Meryn McInnis of Medford; and senior forward Joselinne Moran Palma and junior guard Mia Pacheco of Somerville.

  The Lynn Classical Rams were this year’s GBL champs, and they were led by league MVPs Ava Thurman and Lauren Hennessey. Their mentor, Tom Sawyer, was this year’s GBL Coach of the Year. The Chelsea girls won the league sportsmanship award.