SHAUN CONNOLLY

Fitting, in last month’s column I discussed the excitement of Worcester-area basketball, specifically the electric feeling it has when local students are succeeding at the highest level. For Diego McClain and his South High Colonels, they are that team to see.

Currently the Colonels have just one slip up in their amazing run, an early loss to typical powerhouse Wachusett Regional. They are 14-1, with a point differential of 42 per game. But the Colonels aren’t just winning, they are dominating. McClain, a Worcester native who found success as a player at Holy Name himself credits their off-season preparation and training. “The team is tight and have bonded together. They are a good group too. We have a team GPA of 3.87 and just two absences on the season.” Junior Arianna Gonzalez agrees, “I love playing with my team, we all work together and it makes that success that much easier.”

The team set an early and lofty goal of making it to the state tournament. “Our assistant coach Sam O’Gara made it to the state semifinals with Main South,” McClain tells me, “and we as a team decided we wanted to make it there and move past it.” With two scoring titans in Grace O’Gara and Tamia Nunes making the top 20 in scoring in Central Mass, as well as Gonzalez and a tough core of freshman and sophomores, it’s looking like they just may do it.

“Since the beginning of the season I knew this was going to be special,” O’Gara said. And special it has been with her nearly 19 points a game including 33 three pointers on the year. Nunes added, “our coaches push us and that’s why we are here today.” Nunes, who is averaging 17 points a game, is “the Scottie Pippen of the three,” according to McClain. Which makes Gonzalez “the Dennis Rodman” by my calculations.

“She does all the things you don’t get to see in the box score, she’s a dog on defense, she boxes out. She’ll knock you down on your butt and then smile at you,” McClain laughs.
McClain says their team is like a family, “I’m a parent first, that’s what I always tell them. I make sure they know I have their back and they know I want them to succeed. Then I coach them.”

This success for South High’s girls basketball team is far overdue. It has been a decade since they’ve made the District tournament. Not to brag, but I was the coach for the JV team as well as an assistant on the Varsity for South during those years.

In this columnist’s opinion, McClain and the rest of the Colonels have the ability to go way beyond any minor success my teams had. McClain is sure of it too, adding, “When I was hired I had a plan and here we are. It is an absolute blessing, and this is exactly where we want to be at this point.”