By Kaelyn DiMartino ’25
This year, the Derby girls’ basketball team has five seniors, which is a big improvement from last year, considering there were no seniors. The five seniors are Jerlena Alexander (Captain)’ 25, Emma DeSanty (Captain) ‘25, O’Nestii Gaines ‘25, Alexis Cavallaro ‘25, and Samantha Barillas-Rivera ‘25. The senior night ceremony and game was Tues. 18, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. against the Whitney Tech Owls. The goal was for the Red Raiders to get the win, but unfortunately that is not how it played out.
The ceremony was so sweet as the seniors got called out one by one to walk to center court to be met by their families to take a picture. As they got called out, Athletic Director Jennifer Moffat spoke a few words about each of the girls and what their future will look like. At the end of all the individual pictures with their family, they took one big group picture. The cheerleaders made signs for the seniors and hung them around the gym. Coach Chev stated, “It was nice to have the cheerleaders there for the first time supporting the girls.” The girls were so happy to see them.
Emma DeSanty ‘25 started playing basketball in fifth grade, with a total of seven years played. She expressed, “I’m sad it’s going to end. It feels surreal, because I’m realizing my season is coming to an end.” She will not be continuing her basketball career in college, and will be attending the University of Connecticut.
Jerlena Alexander ‘25 started playing basketball her freshman year of high school and has been playing for four years now. She stated, “I’m feeling good. I feel like we are ending strong.” She plans on continuing her basketball career in college.
O’Nestii Gaines ‘25 has been playing for four years now. She expressed, “It feels good to be a senior on the team and I feel like I have a little bit of a responsibility because we have some underclassmen on the team.” Gaines has been a good role model throughout her basketball career, but she will not be continuing it in college.
Alexis Cavallaro ‘25 started playing basketball in third grade and has been playing for about ten years now. She stated, “I am feeling sad, but grateful that I made a family with the girls on the team.” She will be attending a trade school after graduating, and will not be continuing her basketball career.
Samantha Barillas-Rivera ‘25 has been playing basketball for two years now. She expressed, “Being my last year playing basketball, it feels nice because I met new people that I made friendships with and knowing that I just came to this school, it helped me a lot.” She will not be continuing her basketball career in college.
After the senior night ceremony, the starting five for each team were introduced and the National Anthem was played. During the basketball game there were nonstop cheers from the cheer team.
The seniors all had the same goal this year, which was to make it to states, but unfortunately they were not able to.
The game started out pretty well for the Red Raiders. In the first quarter, both teams kept scoring against each other, but the Red Raiders took the lead at the end of the first, 12-8.
Both teams were putting up a great fight as there was constant scoring in the second quarter. This was an intense and fast-paced quarter. The Red Raiders were still able to keep the lead as the final score of the second quarter was 18-17.
Halftime came after the second quarter, which was short and sweet. The girls resumed playing, starting the third quarter. The Owls rested up during halftime a little too well and ended up taking over the score at the end of the third quarter, leading 30-29. There was tension between both teams and the crowd as the score was so close.
Chevarella expressed, “I have mixed feelings about the senior night basketball game. I was very happy that all five seniors started and played quite a bit during their last basketball game here at Derby high. I was glad that they were able to partake in an exciting game in front of one of the largest crowds all year. However, it was also sad to lose such a close game and knowing that this was our five seniors’ last time representing Derby on the basketball court.”
This was definitely a suspenseful game as the Red Raiders tried their hardest, but unfortunately the Owls swooped in and won the game with a final score of 51-46. Even though the girls had lost the game, they should feel so accomplished for how well they did all season with trying their best, and good luck to all the seniors for their future endeavors!
The Raider Press 