Windham Unified basketball ends season with positivity

By Matt Pascarella

It was a big night for Windham’s Unified basketball team, which joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. Monday, March 10 was the last home game of the season and Windham took on Scarborough at home.

Windham junior Zachary O'Brion takes a shot from just 
inside the paint during a Unified basketball game against
Scarborough at Windham High School on Monday,
March 10. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

It was also Senior Night for the Windham Unified team as Devan Kennie, Talia Campobasso, Colby Schmid and Jacob Smith were presented with a gift to thank them and their parents for their time and dedication to Windham Athletics.

The Eagles started strong and held onto their lead until the end of the game, emerging with a 57-41 victory.

“We did good,” said Smith. “Our partners were able to tell us when to not shoot. Talia told me to back down when (it was appropriate). What I saw that went well was we did better at communicating with each other and we did better at helping out our own team. I am so excited that we won that I’ll be thinking about it for a couple days.”

Windham came out strong and moved the ball well. They rebounded and went hard at the hoop. Schmid got a turnover and a basket. Then it was a parade of Windham athletes scoring; there was solid teamwork. The crowd roared in support for all Unified players.

Windham jumped out to a big lead early. Windham junior Mary Jean had a turnover and scored. Junior Zachary O’Brion hit a three-pointer before the end of the half where Windham led 27-18.

“I went around and scored some baskets from the left (side of the court),” said Windham freshman Tristan Stanley, who scored 12 points.

“It felt pretty great to score so much; getting good baskets went well,” Stanley said.

In the second half, Scarborough closed the gap a bit, but Windham was not letting up. Just a few minutes into the second half, Windham led by over 10 points.

Smith sank a three-pointer, and it was nothing but net. Schmid also hit a three-pointer for Windham and scored 15 points in the game.

Windham’s defense kept Scarborough at bay throughout the contest.

WHS Freshman Maddi Small connected for a basket before the final buzzer to end the season on a high note.

“They were really excited for tonight,” said Windham Unified assistant basketball coach Connor McNeil. “They were excited for Senior Night. We do usually come out to a pretty good lead; the problem has been holding on to it. They did a really good job playing with energy today. They really passed the ball pretty well. We saw a couple give-and-goes which we’ve worked on in practice, that I haven’t seen in the game, so we were pretty pleased to see that. It’s a great team; they play with a lot of energy, and they have a lot of fun. I think the most important thing about Unified basketball is it brings the community together. We had a big event at school to encourage people to come, we had a good turnout – I think Senior Night means a lot to them for that reason. It’s really nice for us to win, so we’re really happy to see everybody come out and support us; that means a lot to us and to the players.”

McNeil said Unified sports are inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. <