Boys Enters New Year With A New ‘Fun’ Look; A Young Girls Squad Rebuilding Thru Senior Leadership

Photo: Belmont senior All-Star guard Sophia McClendon driving towards Arlington.

With each groups introducing new head coaches this season, Belmont High girls and boys basketball have began off the brand new season searching for an id that may transfer the

Boys deliver enjoyable again to Wenner Field House

After plenty of years by which it was wanting up from a deep finish of the standings, Belmont High Boys’ have entered the 2025-26 season having rediscovered a vibe it hasn’t had for fairly some time.

“It’s a team that’s having fun,” mentioned Dan Burns who performed and coached at Woburn High earlier than taking his first head teaching publish in Belmont. Quite a lot of that enjoyable comes from the type of play Burns has put in with this youngish workforce.

“Belmont has always had a tradition of playing fast, and getting the ball out of the net. We have the bodies and the skill set to be able to wear teams down, which cause turnovers, which led to easy baskets as we are being able to get out on the break,” mentioned Burns.

“I think we have the ability to really pressure and bother teams, especially on the defensive side,” he famous. “We have all the pieces to make a strong run in the league and that leads to success later in the season.”

Belmont enters 2026 with a 4-3 document because it heads into the center of the Middlesex League rotation of video games starting within the new 12 months. With the exception of a remaining of the Adams Holiday Tourney, Belmont has been competitve in every of its 5 video games. The Marauders’ one-point loss, 45-44, to Arlington was a results of Belmont making one in every of three photographs from the charity stripe with a second left within the sport. [Belmont fell to Burlington, 78 – 59, on Tuesday, Jan. 6]

Burn’s sends out a younger beginning 5 with three juniors and a sophomore becoming a member of senior co-captain Andre Chavushian. But Burns notes that he’s prepared and keen to empty most of his bench, utilizing 9 to 10 gamers to play important roles on the ground.

Leading the offense early within the season has been Chavushian, junior guard William Murphy and sophomore ahead Liam Phillips. Add the presence of the workforce’s large man junior middle Braiden Dargon who’s adept at blocking out for rebounds on each ends and has rocked the court docket with some onerous blocks. Starter junior guard Theo Sorblom and senior co-captain Charles Tingos have seen their share of minutes thus far.

Three Marauders hit double digits within the season opener win vs Watertown. Dargon led the scoring with 17, Murphy (with two threes) coming residence with 12, and Chavushian 11, as Tingos and Sorblom got here residence with 9 every. In the opening sport of the Adams Holiday Tournament at Concord-Carlisle on Dec. 27, Murphy completed with 21 factors and Dargon put up 17 factors within the Maruaders’ 69-51 win over Weymouth.

Belmont will go to Lexington on Friday, Jan. 9, earlier than heading residence on Tuesday, Jan. 13, towards Wilmington.

Girls toughing it out its rebuilding

“That was ugly,” mentioned newly-installed Belmont Girls’ Basketball Head Coach Antonia Macklin after the Marauders had simply received its first sport of the 2025-6 season, a 43-23 residence stroll over of a really younger Wakefield High squad on Dec. 16.

And it seems the Marauders must endure extra slugfests because the workforce finds itself in a rebuilding season underneath its first 12 months head coach. Macklin – who was a star at Boston’s Jeremiah E. Burke High School earlier than heading off to the University of Iowa the place she as a member of the 1993 Hawkeye workforce that performed within the semifinals of the NCAA Final Four – involves Belmont from Boston’s Holland High School of Technology to tackle a problem of creating a successful program

“We’re a young team. We lost a lot of seniors from last year, so we’re looking to rebuild. But this is a good group as we are returning six varsity players and we have eight new additions who I am excited about.”

“Defense is key. I love playing defense. I played for one of the top coaches in the country and the defense was our thing. I want to see how we look playing man to man and how we look in the zone,” she mentioned.

While praising her workforce’s general effort early within the season, Macklin mentioned the gamers have been wanting to take action a lot as a substitute of simply letting their sport move. “We don’t necessarily have to keep shooting so we can penetrate as well. So those are things that we can work on and practice.”

“But overall, I thought they did a good job,” she famous.

The Marauders’ is led by senior All-Star guard Sophia McClendon. The four-year starter is the workforce’s “go to player” on the offense finish of the court docket and is a dominate pressure on protection, together with her rebounding and shot blocking capacity, swatting away 4 makes an attempt in Belmont’s loss to Arlington.

Joining McClendon as a veteran varsity presence is junior Becca Christensen, who has been a magnet underneath the boards, coming down with 13 rebounds towards Watertown and 11 vs. Wakefield.

The remaining starters are kids enjoying their first season on varsity, with sophomores Sarah Geller and Reece Bundy within the backcourt and first-year Eleanor Siegert becoming a member of Christensen up entrance. Macklin makes use of her bench judiciously, in a position to herald senior twins (and co-captains) Erin and Leah Attridge, together with forwards junior Stella Ivkovic and first 12 months Gwen Cornett.

“I’m expecting a lot from [our seniors] being on the floor, but also looking for their leadership as well. So they play a major part of us putting this young group together,” mentioned Macklin.

After struggling within the first two weeks of the season successful one in every of 4, the Marauders has taken two of its final three together with a gap victory towards host Cambridge within the Cambridge Legends Classic on Dec. 29 and a ten level win towards Burlington.

Belmont shall be on the street taking up Lexington on Friday, Jan. 9 earlier than returning residence on Jan. 13 towards Wilmington. Tip off is at 6 p.m.