Entering this season, the McKelvie School girls basketball team simply wanted to be one game better than it was last year.

That one game just happened to mean a berth in the Tri-County League Class L-1 finals.

Behind a fast-paced attack and relentless defense, McKelvie realized that goal, reaching the championship game for the first time under three-year coach Jon Herod. Though it ultimately fell to Londonderry, 53-42, in the title game on Feb. 10, the team wrapped up a stellar season that included an 11-2 record, the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and a 43-41 win over Windham in the semifinals.

Against Londonderry, Herod’s girls kept it close throughout, trailing by two points at halftime and three entering the fourth quarter, but as Londonderry clung to its lead in the game’s final minutes, McKelvie was forced to foul, opening the door for the eventual 11- point cushion.

“It’s what we wanted to do,” Herod said of improving upon last season, when the team finished 10-2 and reached the semifinals.

“We set a goal to improve upon last year’s record earlier on in the year, so it definitely was something we were striving for. Their effort throughout the season was incredible.”

Leading the squad was Herod’s eighth-grade class, which rotated captainship duties between its members throughout the year. Jasmine Theroux and Casey Levis helped carry the scoring load, with Theroux tallying 18 and 15 points in the finals and semifinals, respectively, and Levis notching six and 13.

Classmate Molly McGown also scored six in the championship, while Emilee Marro, Andrea Wilson, Meghan Sargent and Morgan Martineau all contributed in the team’s turnaround from two years ago, when it hovered around .500.

Also playing key roles were seventh-graders Allie Lavery, Katie Prothro, Lia Nawn, Hayley Barnard and Nicole Marinelli, as well as sixth-graders Niki Hayner, Meghan Green and Sarah Andrikowich.

Boys basketball The McKelvie boys team also enjoyed a strong season, reaching the Class L-1 semifinals before falling to Windham, 55-42.

Seeded second after a 12- 1 regular season – the team’s only loss was to eventual champion and undefeated Merrimack – McKelvie also relied upon a strong eighth-grade class that included three three-year middle school players and several twoyear athletes.

Connor Green, Zach Husband, Mike Prestipino, Jared Fahmy, Matt Beaulieu, Sam McClain, Matt Vitagliano, Joey Maher and Matt Preskenis all contributed to McKelvie’s dangerous inside-outside attack, with several of them helping to do the same on the local New Hampshire Wildcats AAU team.

McKelvie coach Gregg Dorman also coaches that squad, which guns for its third straight state championship later this year.

As it did this season, McKelvie will certainly rely on its returning talent next winter, which includes seventh-graders Andrew Simpson, Luke Howard, Trevor Fahmy, Alex Rouleau and Richard O’Brien, as well as sixth-graders Max Mckee and Sam Purcell.

McKelvie may have had a better chance against Windham if it had both Preskenis, who missed the majority of the year with a knee injury, and Maher, who injured his knee on the eve of the playoffs. But the loss didn’t sour a solid year built upon the squad’s team chemistry.

“That teamwork and togetherness got us where we were,” Dorman said. “Even though a couple kids might have had a better shooting form, I had other kids who played defense better or others who rebounded better or distributed the ball better.

“With that mix, it gave us a good core group of kids,” added the coach. “I was just really happy with all their unselfish play.”