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The RIIL girls basketball state championship was the best game of the basketball postseason and while Ponaganset’s fourth-quarter comeback and 57-54 overtime victory earned the Chieftains the title, the story of the game was Moses Brown's Lauren Bousquet.
Bousquet’s performance was the best individual effort in the history of RIIL boys or girls basketball. There’s no perhaps. No “one of the” either. The junior did everything possible to earn the Quakers a second straight state title, scoring 42 points on 14-of-25 shooting while making 14-of-16 shots from the free-throw line and grabbing 23 rebounds to go with three blocks and two steals.
The numbers were historic. But that’s not what makes her a special player.
Leading into the Ponaganset-Moses Brown title game, my then 10-, now 11-year old daughter was in shambles. We live in Foster, the Chieftains are the hometown team and playing in the town rec league, she's gotten to know many of the players who coach and officiate every weekend. She very much looks forward to one day being a Chieftain.
But she also talks about one day being a Quaker. Lacrosse is another one of her sports and after two summers of playing at the Moses Brown summer lacrosse camp and a winter program run by head coach Brian Williams, she's gotten to know the players who coach. Some of those Quakers also happen to be hoopers.
When the teams met at Ponaganset in the regular season — a game won by Moses Brown — I told her to watch Bousquet and how she played. Afterward, I wanted her to meet the state's best player. High school athletes, especially girls, are more impactful on the youth than they’ll realize. Bousquet was kind and gracious, chatting my kid up for 5-10 minutes and making her feel like the coolest kid on the planet.
A few days later, my daughter played in a rec travel game I had to miss because of work. Talking to my wife about the game, she said the funniest part was coaches asking if my daughter hurt her knee because she was wearing prewrap just under her kneecap. After the game, my wife asked her about it.
She told her she did it because that’s what Lauren Bousquet does.
I covered Moses Brown’s loss to Westerly in the divisional round and Bousquet was incredibly professional and mature with her postgame interview. Bousquet shouldered the loss, putting it all on herself — which is what stars are supposed to do.
When the Quakers beat Westerly in the State Tournament quarterfinals, she took none of the credit and said it was a team effort. College and pro athletes often struggle with that type of accountability and here we had a high school junior doing it with nothing but sincerity in her voice.
Normally after a state title game, I try to speak to the star of the losing team so I can include their take in my story. While I was at the game, I wasn't writing the story. Everyone thinks I hate their team and the perception of bias was enough that I thought it was best to avoid covering Ponaganset in any big games when possible. Colleague Jake Rousseau handled the game while I helped with secondary coverage on social media.
When the game went to overtime, my whole post-game routine had to change. I had to rush to get video interviews of the winners and still had pregame social-media duties for the boys game to handle. That didn't leave me enough time to get over to the Moses Brown side and get anything from Bousquet or her teammates.
It's too bad, because what she did after showed exactly who she is.
As my wife — a Ponaganset alum and member of a state title team of her own — and kids waited in the lobby of the Ryan Center to congratulate Chieftains we've gotten to know over the years, Moses Brown came through as Bousquet and her teammates walked out of an arena one final time this season.
My daughter saw the pain on Bousquet's face and wanted to approach someone who, after just one interaction, she calls a friend. She wanted to tell one of her heroes how well she played and was sorry about the loss.
Bousquet could have made small talk, had a quick conversation, and raced out of there ASAP and no one would have blamed her. She didn't.
Instead she cracked a smiled and gave my daughter a hug. She had a conversation. Bousquet let my daughter introduce her best friend to her, and engaged her in conversation as well. I don't know how long the interaction was. When my daughter describes it, it sounds like a 30-minute affair. It was probably closer to five. Maybe less. But it doesn't matter.
I don’t know if Bousquet is going to play another game for Moses Brown. She’s being pursued by Division I college programs and with how basketball works, junior year is usually the last before heading off to a prep school. Like any superstar leaving, it's sad because watching these kids play at such a high level is what makes this job so much fun.
One more season of Lauren Bousquet would be great, but if that was her last game in the RIIL, she left with a bang.
I'll remember her final game, but what I'll remember most about Bousquet won't be her talent. It will be every opponent begrudgingly admitting they hate how nice of a person she is on the court. It's how she treated every opponent, regardless of level, with the utmost respect. It was how she was accountable for her mistakes, never blamed her teammates and left every ounce of herself on the court.
But what I'll remember most — maybe more than anything else — is how, on what I have to imagine was one of the worst feelings of her playing career, she treated a 10-year-old girl who just wanted to say hi, impacting her life in more ways than she might ever know.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Moses Brown forward Lauren Bousquet was a star on and off the court in 2025
Continue reading...
Bousquet’s performance was the best individual effort in the history of RIIL boys or girls basketball. There’s no perhaps. No “one of the” either. The junior did everything possible to earn the Quakers a second straight state title, scoring 42 points on 14-of-25 shooting while making 14-of-16 shots from the free-throw line and grabbing 23 rebounds to go with three blocks and two steals.
The numbers were historic. But that’s not what makes her a special player.
Leading into the Ponaganset-Moses Brown title game, my then 10-, now 11-year old daughter was in shambles. We live in Foster, the Chieftains are the hometown team and playing in the town rec league, she's gotten to know many of the players who coach and officiate every weekend. She very much looks forward to one day being a Chieftain.
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But she also talks about one day being a Quaker. Lacrosse is another one of her sports and after two summers of playing at the Moses Brown summer lacrosse camp and a winter program run by head coach Brian Williams, she's gotten to know the players who coach. Some of those Quakers also happen to be hoopers.
When the teams met at Ponaganset in the regular season — a game won by Moses Brown — I told her to watch Bousquet and how she played. Afterward, I wanted her to meet the state's best player. High school athletes, especially girls, are more impactful on the youth than they’ll realize. Bousquet was kind and gracious, chatting my kid up for 5-10 minutes and making her feel like the coolest kid on the planet.
A few days later, my daughter played in a rec travel game I had to miss because of work. Talking to my wife about the game, she said the funniest part was coaches asking if my daughter hurt her knee because she was wearing prewrap just under her kneecap. After the game, my wife asked her about it.
She told her she did it because that’s what Lauren Bousquet does.
You must be registered for see images
I covered Moses Brown’s loss to Westerly in the divisional round and Bousquet was incredibly professional and mature with her postgame interview. Bousquet shouldered the loss, putting it all on herself — which is what stars are supposed to do.
When the Quakers beat Westerly in the State Tournament quarterfinals, she took none of the credit and said it was a team effort. College and pro athletes often struggle with that type of accountability and here we had a high school junior doing it with nothing but sincerity in her voice.
Normally after a state title game, I try to speak to the star of the losing team so I can include their take in my story. While I was at the game, I wasn't writing the story. Everyone thinks I hate their team and the perception of bias was enough that I thought it was best to avoid covering Ponaganset in any big games when possible. Colleague Jake Rousseau handled the game while I helped with secondary coverage on social media.
When the game went to overtime, my whole post-game routine had to change. I had to rush to get video interviews of the winners and still had pregame social-media duties for the boys game to handle. That didn't leave me enough time to get over to the Moses Brown side and get anything from Bousquet or her teammates.
It's too bad, because what she did after showed exactly who she is.
As my wife — a Ponaganset alum and member of a state title team of her own — and kids waited in the lobby of the Ryan Center to congratulate Chieftains we've gotten to know over the years, Moses Brown came through as Bousquet and her teammates walked out of an arena one final time this season.
My daughter saw the pain on Bousquet's face and wanted to approach someone who, after just one interaction, she calls a friend. She wanted to tell one of her heroes how well she played and was sorry about the loss.
Bousquet could have made small talk, had a quick conversation, and raced out of there ASAP and no one would have blamed her. She didn't.
Instead she cracked a smiled and gave my daughter a hug. She had a conversation. Bousquet let my daughter introduce her best friend to her, and engaged her in conversation as well. I don't know how long the interaction was. When my daughter describes it, it sounds like a 30-minute affair. It was probably closer to five. Maybe less. But it doesn't matter.
I don’t know if Bousquet is going to play another game for Moses Brown. She’s being pursued by Division I college programs and with how basketball works, junior year is usually the last before heading off to a prep school. Like any superstar leaving, it's sad because watching these kids play at such a high level is what makes this job so much fun.
One more season of Lauren Bousquet would be great, but if that was her last game in the RIIL, she left with a bang.
I'll remember her final game, but what I'll remember most about Bousquet won't be her talent. It will be every opponent begrudgingly admitting they hate how nice of a person she is on the court. It's how she treated every opponent, regardless of level, with the utmost respect. It was how she was accountable for her mistakes, never blamed her teammates and left every ounce of herself on the court.
But what I'll remember most — maybe more than anything else — is how, on what I have to imagine was one of the worst feelings of her playing career, she treated a 10-year-old girl who just wanted to say hi, impacting her life in more ways than she might ever know.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Moses Brown forward Lauren Bousquet was a star on and off the court in 2025
Continue reading...
