A new era has dawned for Greens Farms Academy basketball, on both the girls and boys hardwood shores.
Less than one month into the new season, both of GFA’s new varsity coaches have been impressed with what they’ve seen in the Coyle Gym.
“I’ve really been impressed with the learning curve,” said first-year GFA girls coach Maria Conlon, whose team has won four in a row after a season-opening loss at Hotchkiss. “We are running a totally different style of play than they’ve used in the past. New coaches, new offense, new faces.”
While the Dragons fell in a close one (44-43) at Hotchkiss in the season opener, GFA has turned things around, posting convincing wins over Suffield Academy (56-37), Westminster (58-17), Rye Country Day School (71-16) and Greenwich Country Day School (57-36).
Returning veteran players like LyNeta Brand '23, Molly Keaveney '24, Ella Conopask '24, Ryley Tate-Padian '25, Julia Johnson '25 and Cheyenne Brand '25 have mixed and molded with new varsity faces like Paige Fourtin '23 and London Powell '26.
The team will play three games this weekend in the Ethel Walker Tournament, starting Friday against Miss Porter’s School.
“That first game I think some of (the newness) showed but since then with every practice and every game, we’re getting way more synergy in terms of how we want to look long term,” Conlon said.
On the boys side of the things, new coach JJ Hoffstein had the Dragons flying out of the gate with two straight wins over league rival Hopkins (70-66) and Bradford Christian (74-56).
A loss in the title game of the Hyde School Tournament up in Maine (58-50) and a league defeat against Hamden Hall (86-78) left the Dragons with a 2-2 mark head into this weekend’s tournament at Kingswood Oxford.
The Dragons open the tournament with a rematch against Hyde on Friday.
Joel Nash '25 returns a year older and a year better while Matt Maged '23, Marius Kaljuvee '24, Devin Agah '24, Kyle Roesser '24 and Colin Howard '25 all return to the varsity squad. Newcomers seeing a lot of early season rotation time are Charlie Lafreniere '23, Matvey Timashev '23, Tyler Vassel '25 and Jack Nally '26.
Hoffstein has been impressed with all that has transpired over the first month of the season.
“It’s been a great season so far,” Hoffstein said before the Hamden Hall game. “I love coaching these guys. We’ve progressed a lot as a group and I’m looking forward to seeing how much better we can get.”
There is still a lot of winter left, but things will be heating up in the Coyle Gym as the team returns from break.
Fans should mark Saturday, January 21, on their calendars as the basketball programs will pack the house against Wooster School (boys at 5:45 p.m.) and Putnam Science Academy (girls at 4:00 p.m.).