WORCESTER—South High senior Bryan Bascones has been waiting for this moment since she began playing basketball seven years ago.
It all came to fruition Sunday afternoon in what seemed like a perfectly written script—in her home gym, on Senior Day, before a boisterous crowd of family and friends.
To top it off, the Colonels (10-4) came away with a resounding 56-29 victory over Sandwich. That marked their 10th win of the season.
The drama unfolded when, with a little more than seven minutes left in the game, junior Madison Leighton found Bascones open behind the zone in the low post setting up one of her signature left-hand layups—the 1,000th point of her impressive four-year career at South.
The game was briefly stopped and the Colonels raced to pile on top of her in a raucous celebration.
“I’ve had her since fifth grade,” said head coach Diago McClain, who has coached Bascones at both South and within his Sting AAU program. “That was one of her goals, to get 1,000 points in high school.”
McClain, in his fourth year as coach, joined the South program when Bascones was a freshman in 2021-22. She’s been one of his core players during that timeframe.
“She’s so dedicated. I’m so proud of her,” said McClain. “This is good for the school and for the city, too.”
Bascones, who ranks within the top 10 scorers in Central Mass. at 15.8 points per game, is the third girls basketball player at South to reach the thousand-point plateau within the last 10 years, joining Katherine Edmonds (2014) and Grace O’Gara (2022). She finished
Sunday’s game with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“Having the support from my teammates is what really makes me happy. I feel like this milestone is something I get to celebrate with them,” said Bascones, who shared Senior Day honors with teammate Zuleily Lopez. “I’m really proud of myself and I’m proud of my team.”
It’s been another historic season for South, just a year after the Colonels became the first Worcester Public Schools girls basketball team to reach the state title game last March where South fell 48-42 to top-seed Medfield in Division 2.
Poised for another shot at the title in 2025, McClain stacked the schedule with particularly difficult opponents this season.
The Colonels opened play with a road trip to the She Got Game Classic in Washington D.C. where they split two games against teams from Virgina that have each recently won state titles. South also played in the HoopHall Invitational in Springfield and was narrowly edged on a three-pointer in the final seconds at defending Division 1 state champion Bishop Feehan last week.
“That’s why I did the setup,” said McClain, commenting on the difficulty of the schedule.
“This is all adversity and finding who they are as a team. I put them through the fire early. We’ve played five state championship teams already.”
After narrowly missing out on a state title last season, it’s clear where winning it all this season would rank for Bascones when compared to the individual accomplishment of scoring 1,000 points.
“Honestly, that would be more than a thousand points. I feel like that is such an accomplishment and we got so close last year,” said Bascones. “Winning it for the girls that graduated last year would be something that would mean a lot to me, to them and my teammates.”
Mike Vigneux is a freelance writer in Worcester with more than 20 years of experience in the fields of municipal government, communications, and public relations. An avid fan of all sports, Mike enjoys telling the stories of local athletes and their teams. He holds two degrees from Clark University, a bachelor of arts in Communication and a master of science in Professional Communication. He can be reached at Mikevigs@gmail.com
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