Dunbar High School's girls' basketball team maintained its composure and secured their fifth consecutive DCIAA championship win.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Dunbar

Eastern

During the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association championship on Saturday, in the middle of the third quarter, Dunbar’s girls’ basketball coach, BreAnna Gross, decided to call a timeout to help her team refocus. The Crimson Tide had been leading the game against Eastern for most of the afternoon, but their lead had recently diminished to just three points. Gross noticed that her players were starting to feel uneasy; hence, she called a timeout to get them back on track.

“I’m just calling this timeout so you can get it together,” she told them. “You’re frantic out there, playing like you’re losing the game. We are winning this game — look at the scoreboard.”

Dunbar’s reaction to a close game can be forgiven since prior to Saturday, the Tide had won every league game by double digits. In fact, they had held their opponents to single digits on more than one occasion. Even though the players knew they had the talent to beat the Ramblers at Coolidge on Saturday, their coach needed to remind them of this fact.

Great news! Dunbar just won their fifth straight DCIAA title with a 51-36 victory! They played the game with incredible patience and poise.

“There’s pressure every season,” junior guard Emorean Thomas said. “People are doubting us, rooting against us. That’s hard. And it feels good to do something I always knew we could do.”

Gross and her team recognized that to improve and reach their full potential, they needed to challenge themselves with a tough non-conference schedule. They arranged games against strong private schools like St. John’s and Georgetown Visitation. Once the league play began, the team adopted a mindset of playing every quarter as if they were behind. During a game against Eastern, the opposing team’s pressure began to mount and the coach had to reassure her team that they weren’t losing.

Dunbar’s Head Coach BreAnna Gross and Kirsten Holt high five during the DCIAA Championship Title game featuring Eastern Lady Ramblers on Saturday, February 17, 2024, at Coolidge High School in Washington, D.C.. Photo: OK3Sports/Olen Kelley III

In the third quarter, after a timeout, Dunbar managed to outscore the Ramblers by 23-11 points. Kirsten Holt, a sophomore forward, played an outstanding game and was awarded the game MVP title. Holt’s dominance in the low post allowed the guards to make plays on the outside. Eastern, who had been having their best season in years, failed to get within a one-score margin again.

After the game, the Dunbar team huddled around their trophy and raised five fingers, repeating a proud tradition.“Every game we play, we know that if we lose, the other team will be on Instagram talking about it,” Holt said. “It would be a big deal. And we never want that.”

Next, the public school powerhouse will have another chance to prove itself against private schools at the D.C. State Athletic Association tournament.

“We played those tough games early on to prepare us for games like today,” Gross said. “And hopefully they prepared us for states, too.”

Dunbar High School’s girls’ basketball team maintained its composure and secured their fifth consecutive DCIAA championship win.

Written by Brett Carrington