The Titan Sisterhood is back in a semifinal.

The Wilbraham & Monson Academy Girls Basketball team qualified for the postseason despite a number of injuries to key players, earning the #3 seed for the New England Prep School Athletic Council AA Conference Tournament.

The Titans (16-11 overall, 9-4 AA), who received a bye in the first round, will play at No. 2 Worcester Academy Saturday, March 7, at 1 p.m. in a semifinal. The winner will advance to Sunday’s final at Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts, at 1:10 p.m.

This is the fifth season in a row that WMA has qualified for the tournament.

“It means our program is officially one of the top programs in New England,” explained Coach Durelle Brown. “Our previous longest streak was four years, from 2015-2019, and those were some great teams in our history. But to go three straight years in Class C, being a finalist and a champion in back-to-back years, and now two straight semifinal appearances in Class AA means we are building something special with a young roster minus our great seniors. 

“Our current girls are learning that this program is much bigger than them, and they are playing to make those who came before them proud. Our Titan Sisterhood is so strong and supportive.”

Coach Brown likes how his team is playing headed into the playoffs, highlighted with a come-from-behind 54-37 win at archrival Suffield Academy on Friday.

“I think we are peaking at the right time,” Coach Brown said. “It has been an astounding season, honestly. I have never coached a season where the injury bug hit our team this often. We have never had our full roster for one game this season. It was actually just 22 minutes of one practice all season. We have had some huge wins this season, and we got one of our season’s biggest versus our rival (Suffield). We are accepting the challenge of finishing this season’s journey off the right way, one quarter at a time.”

In order to do that, WMA will have to go through Worcester, the defending AA Conference champion, which included an 80-67 win over the Titans in a semifinal last season. This season, WMA lost at Worcester 49-44 in November and then fell in overtime to the Hilltoppers 54-48 at the Marianapolis Prep AA Showcase in January.

“It sounds cliché, but we have to play the full 32 minutes,” Coach Brown stated. “It’s bad when you think we have allowed them to beat us three straight times, not because they have a better roster but just because they have outplayed us and competed better for longer over the course of the last three contests. We need to execute our game plan, rebound the basketball, make layups and free throws, and take care of the ball, and just compete on every possession till the clock says 0:00 in the fourth quarter.”

Despite injuries to seniors Caterina Ravosa ’26 and Selah Prignano ’26, the Titans managed to earn the No. 12 ranking of all 110 prep basketball teams in New England. The setbacks, though, have made WMA tough come playoff time, fostering a hunger and resiliency.

“I think we are hungry to be the team we would have been this season had we been healthy all year,” Coach Brown said. “Our resilience…we are talented, but we are young. We lose Caterina for the first 14 games of the season. Then as Caterina returns from her meniscus injury, we lose Selah to an ankle injury for four games. When Selah returns, then we lose Iyanna (Hodge ’27) to a spiral fracture in her hand for the rest of the season. And while Iyanna is out, Jala (Witherspoon ’27) injures her shoulder. All the while, as these injuries piled up, this group never made any excuses. They played next-person up, dug in together and found ways to compete and win games, no matter who we had in uniform. That’s what I am most proud of this season - our team’s togetherness and resilience are beginning to propel them.”