No team’s fate is set in stone in the postseason, but as the Raiders prepare for their upcoming state tournament campaign, the future of Hampshire girls basketball is shining bright.
For the first time since 2021, the Raiders will finish back-to-back seasons with winning records. Hampshire will enter the MIAA Divison IV state tournament with a 12-8 record this year after finishing 13-9 last season and falling in the Round of 32.
As Hampshire girls basketball coach Jason Plamondon explained, the Raiders’ success comes down to how well the team plays together and compliments one another on and off the court ― starting with their seniors, Alexandra Henrichon and Makayla Labrie.
“We don’t win five games without Makayla Labrie,” Plamondon said. “I compare it to football, she is like having a lockdown corner, like Christian Gonzalez of the Patriots… she locks up the other team’s best player. We go into the game and our gameplan is ‘Makayla’s got this girl, now we worry about stopping the other four’.
“With Alex, it’s the leadership. The girl does everything that the team needs, she’s like the team mom. This girl will do everything for the team. She runs summer leagues, helps get everything ordered for jerseys for our summer league team. She’s on top of all the intangible stuff, the stuff that the team needs and making sure everyone’s organized… and then on the court, she hits big shots.”
While neither Henrichon nor Labrie have finished a game this season as the team’s leading scorer, both players shoulder key responsibilities within Hampshire’s tactics.
Henrichon leads the team with 32 three-pointers made on the season heading into the state tournament, providing a dangerous threat from outside and stretching the floor for the drivers.
Labrie regularly guards the opposition’s primary scorer, allowing the Raiders to stay in man-to-man and not having to double-team.
“(Henrichon and Labrie) are my voice on the court,” Plamondon said. “They’re my voice in the locker room, they’re my voice on the bus. When I tell them something, they’re able to explain it to all the younger players and get everybody to buy in.
“These two are able to handle feedback. I’m very tough on (them) but their ability to handle feedback and (still) show leadership, it shows everybody else in the locker room, ‘Wow, he’s really tough on the seniors… he can be tough on me’. At the end of the day, that helps the team grow and helps the team get better, when everybody holds each other accountable.”
But as Henrichon and Labrie explained, the senior leadership can only go so far without the guidance of a committed coaching staff. Prior to this season, the Raiders have also struggled to maintain a head coach. Plamondon is the fourth coach these girls have played under at Hampshire and is the first coach to return for a second season.
“It’s definitely better having a coach who’s like willing to stay and build the program with us,” Henrichon said. “(Plamondon) gives each of us a role on the team, which makes it easier to like figure out what you’re supposed to be doing and know that you’re important and that you’re helping the team.”
Plamondon has fully embraced his responsibility in helping build bonds within his team and extending those bonds beyond the court. The team’s new warm-up shirt for this season honors loved ones who have battled cancer or are fighting it now.
“Coach Plamondon has definitely given us a lot of stability,” Labrie said. “He’s definitely given us strength and positivity throughout the season and it’s just been really great having him… these past 2 years (have) definitely been my best basketball years ever.
“(My younger cousin, Brooke) was definitely a little shy at first (on joining the team), but we’re all one big family, so it was easy to welcome her in and I’m really happy to have her on my side.”
Plamondon highlighted as well the importance of having leaders on his staff that can the players can look up to on and off the court. Chelsea Belsito (junior varsity coach) and Maddie Pond (assistant coach) are former Raiders themselves with over 1,000 career points each to their names.
“We’ve seen the team come together a lot more (these past two years),” Henrichon said. “It’s easier to build a bond throughout the team when we have a coach there that’s also building a bond with us and it builds trust between each other because we know he has our back in every situation.
“During games where we go to triple overtime, for example, we know that he knows what to do and that he knows each of our roles on the team and how everyone can help and come together to pull out the win.”
With such committed leaders on and off the court for the Raiders, its no wonder why the Raiders enter the Div. IV state tournament with so much optimism.
No. 8 Hampshire (13-8) will face the winner of No. 25 Wareham and No. 40 Brooke Charter in the Round of 32.
