STATE CHAMPIONS: Melrose's Nee and Buckley, and Arlington Catholic Maul Millbury 49-28

The Arlington Catholic Cougars of 2010-11 now have a memory they will remember for the rest of their lives.

will need to buy itself a banner.

For the first time in school history, the girls basketball team earned a Division 2 State Championship with a convincing 49-28 win over Millbury High School on Saturday at Worcester’s DCU Center.

“We’ve had such tremendous talent, tremendous girls in the past that have come so close, and this is for all of them,” said Cougars head coach Dave Brady.

“It feels great,” said Cougars junior guard Nicole Catizone. “No AC team has ever made it this far so for us to make it this far, making history feels really good,” she said. Catizone scored 11 points in the game including three three-pointers.

However, it was junior Emma Roberson who led the Cougars with a game-high of 16 points on the night.

“I never take her out because she can run forever,” said Brady of his star junior guard.

Roberson was a force throughout the entire playoff run, scoring clutch baskets whenever the situation called for it.

Just like the Cougars’ , the title game did not begin as they had hoped.

AC went down 7-2 in a defensive struggle of a first quarter prompting a Cougar timeout.

“We knew that our shots had to start falling sometime,” Emma Roberson said.

And boy, did they ever.

After the timeout, Arlington Catholic went on an incredible 21-0 run in which their whole team made important contributions.

It was senior guard and Melrosian Erin Nee, playing in her last game ever for the Cougars, who gave AC their first lead. She hit a trey to put AC up 8-7, and another one to extend it to 11-7.

Nee, after breaking her nose, was wearing a daunting-looking protective face mask for the first time in her career.

“You throw a mask on her and she can shoot great,” said Brady of the senior.

“I wasn’t used to shooting with a mask but it seemed to help,” said Nee. She scored nine points in the game, all off three-pointers.

Two consecutive buckets by Emma Roberson made it 15-7 in the second quarter.

Moments later she would score six consecutive Cougar points off a jumper, layup and free throws to put AC up 23-7 and extend the run to 21-0.

Julie Frankian (team-high 10 points) of Millbury finally put an end to the streak with a layup to make it 23-9.

Going into halftime, AC held a 24-10 lead.

AC went on another run; this time an 8-0 spree in the third quarter put some more distance between them and the Woolies.

A stylish Emma Roberson layup and three-point daggers by Nicole Catizone and Kayla Awizsus set the score at 44-16 and made the fourth quarter a mere formality.

With two minutes left in the game, Nicole Catizone launched up another three that got nothing but net and made the score 49-27. That high arcing jumper sent the AC crowd into delirium. The Cougars ended up with a 49-28 triumph.

AC’s championship win does come with a bit of sadness as seniors Rachel Buckley and Erin Nee—both from Melrose—Erin Klein, and Kayla Awizsus are all set to graduate in May.

A talented core of juniors, including the team’s superstar Emma Roberson, will lead the way in 2011-12. She will be accompanied by sharpshooter and fellow junior Nicole Catizone as the Cougars’ main weapons next season.

“They’ve come so far as a team,” said Dave Brady.

And it all came full circle Saturday night.