After ending last season with their first NYSAIS Class C championship in seven years, the Rye Country Day girls basketball team has a realistic shot at going back-to-back.
Despite losing three key contributors to graduation, this year’s squad is off to an even better start, with a 6-1 record at the season’s halfway point. Like the 2024-25 team, which went 14-7, the Wildcats opened this year by winning the Columbia Prep Tip-Off Tournament, defeating Hunter College High School and Columbia Prep by 14 points apiece.
“We always love competing in that tournament,” said fourth-year head coach Russell Tombline. “It always gives us a chance to see where we measure up against teams through the season and how we can improve ourselves.”
The tournament typically offers an early opportunity for players to adjust to their new roles, but with six of the Wildcats’ seven top scorers returning, the team benefited from an already-established comfort and chemistry.
“The fact that they know how to play with each other and they understand each other’s game has definitely been a positive for us,” Tombline said. “It’s always helpful when everybody’s able to extend beyond their comfort zone and make stronger contributions throughout the course of the season. There’s definitely a feel for that, and there’s a comfort level in trusting your teammates, as well as putting them in a position to be successful.”
The best example of the old blending with the new is Claire Jiang, a senior point guard and captain who was named tournament MVP, and junior Maya Torgalkar, a first-year varsity player, who also earned all-tournament team honors.
Jiang has played varsity for all four years of Tombline’s coaching tenure. Since stepping up to become starting point guard as a sophomore and a captain as a junior, she has been a reliable asset to the team on and off the court.
“She’s elevated her game to take on a larger scoring role on the team, while also facilitating and getting her teammates involved as a two-year captain,” Tombline said. “She’s increased her stat line across the board from last year already.”
Jiang is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 13.7 points, along with nine rebounds, four assists and four steals per game. Other senior captains, Sahar Harris and Mei Macintyre, four- and three-year varsity players, respectively, bring their own styles for a well-rounded leadership group.
“While Claire is relied upon to be one of our main offensive threats and ball handlers on the court, Mei is our vocal leader,” Tombline said. “She brings a lot of energy and positivity to the team. Sahar is kind of that quiet leader. She just goes out and does her role — to guard the other team’s top player one day, or be a strong rebounder another.”
As a dual athlete who stars on the Wildcat lacrosse team, Torgalkar took a hiatus from basketball after middle school. The team has certainly benefited from her return to the sport this year. Torgalkar not only joined the starting lineup, but averages a team-leading 12.6 rebounds, plus 6.3 points and four steals per game.
“She just has a knack for the sport, and she has the ability to play one step ahead of the opponents,” Tombline said. “Her athleticism is just something that really helps her stand out on the basketball court.”
According to Tombline, the biggest strength of the team this year is its defense. The most points the Wildcats have allowed this season is 47 — in their lone loss Dec. 17 at Nightingale-Bamford — but overall, the Wildcats’ seven opponents have scored just 35 points on average.
“I’m a firm believer that if you limit the other team’s opportunities to score, then you don’t have to work as hard on the offensive end,” Tombline said. “If you’re not giving up 50 points, you don’t have to score 51. If you’ve only given up 25, you only have to score 26 — or a little bit more — to win those games. I stress the little things with our team … things that are going to give us additional opportunities to score.”
With seven regular-season games remaining, the Wildcats hope to position themselves for successive NYSAIS championships. Last year’s title team won three games as the No. 2 seed. This year, RCDS is hoping for the same result, possibly as the tournament favorites.
“I think we come in every day looking to just be better than the day we were before,” Tombline said. “That would be the icing on the cake for this one, and I think that’s something that the girls are really striving for and understand — that the work you put in every day is going to lead to that. We have these aspirations of winning championships and, more importantly, they really come together and enjoy being around each other.”
