Officially, New York State Public High School Athletic Association ended the 2019-20 sports season at 10 a.m. Monday, March 23.
In our hearts, we knew before then the magical year put together by the Brookfield girls basketball team had found the one opponent that could end their season: the coronavirus.
The Beavers stood three wins away from capturing the Class D state title. Instead of playing one more game at Onondaga Community College and two at Hudson Valley Community College, Brookfield joins so many other high school and college winter teams whose championship dreams ended not with a loss on the court, but a loss of the chance to play.
But in the world of what-ifs left to ponder from now until forever, the girls in blue and orange can stand proud on what they did accomplish. While they cannot say they won the state championship, they can say they were the best team in Class D in New York state at the end of the season.
Before 2020 even started, the Beavers had hoisted the championship trophy in the Richfield Springs and Edmeston tournaments. Junior Jaelyn Vleer-Elliott brought home the hardware for MVP both times.
They handed always tough Class C West Canada Valley a loss. They won their third straight Central Counties League title, this time as the solo first-place team.
Last year Madilyne Kupris became the program’s first 1,000-point scorer. This year the senior scored enough points to move her to third on the school’s all-time scorer list.
Vleer-Elliott, a junior, scored her 1,000th point this year. She will start her senior year fourth on the all-time list with an excellent chance of ending her time as a Beaver as the school’s all-time top scorer.
For the first time in program history Brookfield played a Class B team, and one that was led by a Division I-Harvard bound player. As the Cazenovia coach...