The women’s varsity basketball team beat the Jackson-Reed Tigers to win the District of Columbia State Athletic Association (DCSAA) Class A Championship on March 3.
The game took place at Charles E. Smith Athletic Center, the basketball court for George Washington University. Going into the game, the Hoppers had a record of 21-8, while the Tigers had a record of 17-9. The final score was 61–43, and GDS earned its second DCSAA Class A title in the last three years.
The DCSAA A division is worse than the AA division, which includes Sidwell Friends, ranked fourth nationally, and St. Johns, ranked 25th.
The Hoppers got off to a terrific start, with GDS taking a 17-point lead by the end of the first quarter. GDS did not let the pressure of a championship game get to them. Senior Madi Moore made two consecutive three-pointers, invigorating the roughly sixty GDS fans. She scored nine points in total in the quarter and 22 in the game. The quarter ended with a 22–5 lead for the Hoppers, with sophomore Cai Roberson contributing eight points.
The team stepped up their performance even more in the second quarter, continuing to pressure Jackson-Reed despite their already impressive lead.
At an especially exciting moment during the quarter, Moore made a three-pointer. The Hoppers entered halftime with a strong lead of 40–17.
In the third quarter, the Tigers continued fighting, but unfortunately for them, the Hoppers continued piling on, never letting Jackson-Reed close the gap. The third quarter ended with a score of 51–27.
“We played together, we were on the same track, we communicated, we just had each other’s backs,” said Roberson. She talked about advice coaches gave the team before the finals, such as “rebounds win championships.” Roberson was a standout player in the game, scoring 23 points.
In the fourth quarter, the Hoppers did not let their guard down, scoring ten more points to maintain their lead. The game ended with a free throw by freshman Nevaeh Roberson.
After the game, Senior Madi Moore emphasized how well the team did on defense and how well they passed the ball. “We kept moving the ball, getting a lot of open layups.”
“The girls were ready and came out strong, super aggressively,” said head coach and Associate Athletic Director Pam Stanfield.
“She is the reason we won our second DC State championship,” Stanfield said of Moore. “She’s done a great job mentoring the kids and helping them become better basketball players”. Stanfield added.
The team’s last title came in 2022.
Next year, the team will lose Moore, as she is a senior, but Cai Roberson is optimistic about the future. “The chemistry is not going to be the same, but I hope we still stay together, we still have each other’s backs, we still communicate,” she said.
The win was a fitting capstone to a dominant performance in the tournament for the Hoppers. It marked their third consecutive win by 18 points or more. On Tuesday, Feb. 27, they defeated Anacostia 60–23 at home in the quarterfinal. Moore and Nevaeh Roberson stood out as star players. Moore scored 14 points and had ten rebounds and six steals, while Nevaeh Roberson scored 18 points and nabbed 14 rebounds.
Two days later, on Feb. 29, the team defeated DCI 61-30 in the tournament semifinal. The score remained tight through much of the first quarter, but the Hoppers soon established a commanding lead.
After a first-half three-pointer from Nevaeh Roberson which put GDS up 27–15, DCI did not come within ten points for the rest of the game. The Hoppers finished the third quarter up by 21 and outscored DCI 12–2 in the fourth quarter to finish the game. The middle school has talent as well, the A team defeated Deal Middle School 37–31 in the first-ever DCSAA Middle School Girls State Championship.