A girls basketball team from Yonkers is celebrating a milestone that has been nearly a century in the making. The Yonkers Montessori Academy Lady Eagles, who captured a state championship, were honored at a homegrown celebration that drew local elected officials, the grocery chain Stew Leonard's and Knicks legend Walt Clyde Frazier, all of whom turned out to recognize the players for what they achieved on the court.
The title carries unusual historical weight for the city. It is the first basketball state championship won by the Yonkers district since 1932, the year the Yonkers High School boys basketball team last captured a state crown. According to head coach Eli Moise, the Lady Eagles are also the first girls sports team ever to win a state championship in Yonkers, a distinction that sets this group apart in the city's long athletic history.
The celebration doubled as a formal recognition of the team. All 15 players gathered at Stew Leonard's to receive honorary medals, and they were told that championship rings are on the way, expected the following week. The presence of elected officials and a basketball icon turned a school sports result into a citywide moment of pride, with the community rallying to mark how far the team had come.
The championship itself was anything but comfortable. The Lady Eagles won 65 to 60 in overtime against Chenango Forks, pulling out the victory only after a tense, back and forth game that stayed close down the stretch and slipped into an extra period. Coach Moise recalled the swing of emotions as the contest headed to overtime, saying he told himself that if it was meant to be, it would be.
For Moise, the win was the payoff for long hours the players had put in. He spoke of knowing the time the team had spent in the gym and of his belief that, on any given day, they could pull it off, describing how happy he was when they finally did. He credited the group's togetherness, a theme the players echoed when they said they had simply stayed together as a team and pushed for the win when it mattered most.
The milestone also marks a turning point for some of the players. Senior Orsela Mustafa will be leaving Yonkers Montessori Academy in the fall to play college basketball for Manhattanville University. At the celebration, the players were urged to carry the lesson of their title forward, with the message that the planning and persistence that made them champions could take them wherever they wanted to go in life.