'A Team Within A Team:' The Neighborhood Girls of the BLS Wolfpack

With the and chools catering only to young men, and so many of the ’s students coming from outside the neighborhood, one might wonder where West Roxbury’s female scholar-athletes compete.

As it turns out, a slew of them play for the team. Four juniors – guards Molly McCormick and Courtney Hoban, and forwards Laura Sullivan and Chloe Lane – comprise what Head Coach Keri Orellana termed “a team within a team.”

The four girls have known each other since shooting hoops at the in elementary school, and have played together outside of school in Parkway Travel Basketball and Parkway United Soccer. Since getting to BLS in the seventh grade, the girls have been volleyball and basketball teammates.

So much time spent together athletically has certainly familiarized the girls with each other on the court.

“We’re used to how we all play together,” Hoban said.

And they spend much of their time off the court together as well.

“We hang out every weekend,” said Sullivan.

The girls, however, say they are not exclusive or cliquey with the rest of their teammates, a group that includes two Roslindale-based senior captains, center Emily Berardi and point guard Jonlyn Englert. Senior guard Megan Duckworth is also from Roslindale.

“We’ve developed a bigger group of friendship with everyone else on the team,” Sullivan said.

On the court, the girls say their skillsets match their positions. McCormick and Hoban, the guards, have developed strong outside shooting skills, while forwards Lane and Sullivan have developed as physical players. Sullivan’s rebounding skills are particularly strong, her teammates said, and her coach agreed.

“She has such a nose for the ball rebounding,” Orellana said, “and that’s not something you can teach.”

The Wolfpack is set to graduate five seniors this spring, which means the West Roxbury girls will be asked to take on leadership responsibilities. Hoban has already gotten a taste of these responsibilities, as she was a captain in volleyball as a junior. The girls know they’ll need to take their roles as leaders seriously if they are to improve on their 3-11 record so far this season.

“We’ll need to have more focus,” Hoban said.

“Losing those seniors will hurt,” Sullivan added. “We’ll have to work hard in the offseason and readjust.”

Though the foursome clearly has athletic aspirations, most students at BLS are there because of its upstanding academic reputation. The girls all intend on going to college. McCormick, Sullivan, and Hoban all hope to stay on the East Coast. Lane, however, hopes to “leave the country,” and aspires to attend college in Ireland. She has already gained some experience overseas, having taken apart in an intensive BPS study abroad program in China last summer.

BLS has certainly aided the girls’ academic aspirations, they said, and athletics have played a role.

“It really preps you for further studies,” McCormick said. “And the athletics give you lots of drive and show you how to try hard.”

“[Monday], I had lots of things due and lots of tests,” Sullivan said. “I don’t like it when it’s happening, but I like the challenge. When it’s done, I feel good about myself. And in basketball, lots of schools feel like we’re an easy win, but when we win or even just have a good game, we prove them wrong, and it’s the same feeling.”

“BLS really prepares us,” Hoban added. “I see the work of other students and know I could do it.”

Well, most of it, anyway.

“Really?” Sullivan chided her friend. “You think you could do Chloe’s Chinese homework?”

And the teammates – the best friends – laughed together.