The Old Rochester Regional Travel Basketball Association, the district’s eighth-grade girls' traveling team, came out on top in the New England State Championship middle school tournament on March 18.

The team qualified for the tournament by taking first place overall in the Cape Cod Youth Basketball League. There were five other teams at the state tournament, including two-time defending champion Raynham.

The first day of the tournament was “pool play." Every basketball team played two games and then were ranked based on the results. Old Rochester went 1-1, the loss coming against Haverhill. Old Rochester would go on to beat Haverhill in the first round of bracket play.

After defeating Haverhill, the Old Rochester team then shut out Raynham for the championship.

“It was pretty good for the girls,” head coach Mike Fernandes said. “It’s not the coaching. They make me look good. They’re a talented group of girls.”

In addition to the coaching from Fernandes, the girls would also scrimmage with the varsity girls' basketball team at Old Rochester Regional High School once per week.

“[Varsity head coach Bob Hohne] has been very supportive,” Fernandes said. “He would come to their games. It was great for the girls to see the high school coach watching.”

After back-to-back Cape Cod League wins, Fernandes said he’ll miss the current team, but hopes to see more players get involved in the league.

“I’m going to miss coaching them,” he said. “We’d like to get more girls playing.”

Sign ups are available in school. For more information, visit https://www.ortba.org/.