Ansonia/Derby Travel Girls Basketball Kicks Off First Season

What started as a pre-game discussion between two neighboring coaches has now turned into reality.

Last year before a girls’ basketball game between Ansonia and Derby High School, Ansonia’s coach Patrick Lynch and Derby’s coach Dave Chevarella talked about the lack of girls in the area playing basketball. 

They decided to do something about it. Now youth girls in both Ansonia and Derby are reaping the benefits.

The two coaches held sign ups in late September for any girls that live in Ansonia or Derby in grades 4 – 8 to start up a basketball program. 

We brought flyers to the schools, sent out emails, posted on Facebook, put ads in the paper, we did anything we could to spark an interest,” Lynch said. 

More than forty girls from the two towns signed up. 

We didn’t care how many girls we got, we knew we had to start somewhere, but we never expected to get the amount of girls we did,” Chevarella said,

The two coaches had a goal of starting at least two teams but with over forty girls, they were able to set up four teams. 

Ansonia/Derby has a 4th, 5th, 6th and a combined 7th/8th grade team. 

The teams are playing in the Southern Regional Basketball League that has teams from all over Connecticut competing.

The league has teams from 4th-8th grade for both boys and girls. The league is run through the website www.srblhoops.org.

My daughter Riley lives in Branford with her mother and she played for Branford’s 5 th grade team last year in the SRBL. After attending her practices and games, I realized she was learning things I was teaching my high school girls,” Lynch explained. So, I figured no matter what the scores are of the games, she’s already four years ahead of my players.”

Three of the four Ansonia/Derby teams started their season this past Sunday hosting games at the Derby Veteran’s Community Center. 

The 5th and 6th grade teams lost to East Haven and West Haven respectfully. 

The combined 7th/8th grade team won the first game in the history of the program by defeating Prospect.

The 5th grade team, coached by Lynch, was led by Natasha Rivera’s 4 points and 2 assists. 

Marissa Pellegrino, Mikayla Hernandez and Sierra DelMoral all chipped in with 2 points. 

The 6th grade team, coached by former Derby principal Craig Drezek, was paced by his daughter Sidney Drezek’s 6 points and 3 steals. 

Daphney Pate and Gabby Stadt both had 4 points while Jordyn Davis compiled 5 rebounds.

The combined 7th/8th grade team, coached by Chevarella, used a 10 – 0 run to end the game and beat Prospect. 

Anna Chevarella was the leading scorer for the day for Ansonia/Derby with her 9 points, including 7 in the 4th quarter. Judi Palmieri had 4 points while Lacey DiMartino and Shamyra Rivers each had 2 points to round out the scoring for the victors.

The 4th grade team, coached by Heather Lane and Jamie Drezek, will begin their season this Sunday at Derby Veteran’s Community Center vs. North Haven at 12pm. 

The 6th grade team will host Branford at 1:15pm, 5th grade plays Amity at 2:30pm and the combined 7th/8th grade will also play Amity at 3:45pm.

These teams would not exist without the help of the Ansonia and Derby Recreation Departments, local sponsors that include City Stichers and Menta Chiropractic of Derby and Teodosio and Sons and Norwood A.C. of Ansonia, as well as the numerous amounts of volunteer time from the Chevarella and Drezek families, Heather Lane and Patrick Lynch. 

Also, high school players from both Ansonia’s and Derby’s teams have shown up at practices and games to lend a helping hand.

Keep local reporting alive. Donate.ValleyIndy.org