PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Former Lynn Classical girls basketball star Helen Ridley now leads by example as an assistant coach for the Rams.
By HAROLD RIVERA
LYNN — There’s no question that the tradition basketball holds in Lynn is a rich one.
The long list of hoop stars who were grew up in Lynn includes a number of players who took their talents to the Division 1 level.
The list includes Lynn Tech alumnus Antonio Anderson, who played for coach John Calipari at the University of Memphis and in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder; his brother, Anthony, who played at English and UMass Amherst; Tech’s Tony Gallo, who played at Coppin State; and Corey Bingham, another former Tech star, who played for the University of Toledo.
But make no mistake about it, the women have done their share to carry the torch too.
Helen Ridley, a former team captain and 1,000-point scorer for the Classical girls’ basketball team, serves as an example that the Lynn women have done their part in making the city proud.
Ridley played at Classical from 1997 to 2001 for former Rams coach and current principal Gene Constantino.
“It was great,” Ridley said. “I loved playing basketball. I was on varsity for four years and we got better as time went on. My junior and senior years we had some really great teams. It was an awesome experience.”
Ridley’s success on the court at Classical earned her a Division 1 scholarship to Quinnipiac University. She was a star there from 2001 to 2005, and a team captain in her final season with the Bobcats.
After graduating from Quinnipiac, Ridley coached at her alma mater and then at the University of New Hampshire.
She returned to her high school team in 2013, after stepping away from coaching for a year, as an assistant coach on Tom Sawyer’s staff.
“I took a year off from coaching and that year I helped my dad (St. Mary’s principal James) with his AAU program (Thundercats),” Ridley said. “I was around a lot of the high school coaches at the time. I definitely missed that competitive aspect.”
Now that Ridley’s career has come full circle, she works closely with the players on her team and serves as a case study for those who seek to play hoops in college.
“That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day,” Ridley said. “If I can talk to them about using basketball as an avenue for getting an education, that, to me, is coaching.
“Being able to help an athlete in that way is more meaningful than winning or losing games, especially the athletes that may be first generation college students,” she said.
Ridley’s experiences as a star at Quinnipiac serve to help her advise the girls who are looking to continue the trend of Lynn natives earning basketball scholarships.
Ridley said the trend is growing, especially on the women’s side.
“The females do a good job of going to high-level programs,” Ridley said.
Current females carrying the Lynn basketball torch in the college ranks include Brianna Rudolph (UMass Lowell), Sharell Sanders (Caldwell), Diondra Woumn (Franklin Pierce), Catherine Stinson (Southern New Hampshire), Chenysse Hill (Plymouth State) and Monta Connolly (Framingham State).
“In the past 10 years, there’s more than a handful of Lynn kids who have gone on to play Division 1 or 2 and there are more that have played in Division 3, which is no small feat,” Ridley said. “There aren’t too many athletes who can continue their careers in college. It’s pretty awesome for those who get that opportunity.”
Former women’s basketball stars who have paved the way for today’s college players representing Lynn include Ridley, Jeannette Anderson (Caldwell), Tori Faieta (Stonehill) and Monique Lee (Quinnipiac).
Ridley noted that she, along with other Lynn women who were fortunate enough to continue their basketball careers in college, look to mentor today’s high school players who aim to follow in their footsteps.
“We try to let them know they can do it and we try to show them how it’s done,” Ridley said. “It’s not easy. I think we try to serve as that mentor figure.”
She added, “showing them an avenue of how to get into college and how to get recruited, it’s huge for the city to have those avenues. I don’t think we had that 15 years ago. I don’t think it was as prevalent when I was in high school as it is now. If these athletes want to be mentored, there are so many avenues.”
Harold Rivera can be reached at [email protected].