Sigonella's Cooper Harrison goes up to shoot while defended by Vicenza's Ben Morton in a game on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Vicenza, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
VICENZA, Italy – The Vicenza Cougars came within seconds of sweeping the DODEA-Europe championships last season by largely playing a helter-skelter brand of basketball.
The boys pulled off the feat by relentlessly pressuring their opponents into turnovers and converting them into basket after basket. The girls came up just short in their quest, falling in the championship game to American Overseas School of Rome after reaching that game with an often-frantic style.
Friday night in both teams’ season openers with Sigonella, it initially seemed that might well continue. But by the end of the games – both victories for the Cougars over the Jaguars – both Vicenza teams were playing much different styles.
Sigonella's Bobby Gibbons puts up a floater Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, against Vicenza in Vicenza, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Sigonella's Jacob Maloney drives to the basket while defended by Vicenza's Dylan Horrigan on Friday, Dec.5, 2025, in Vicenza, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza's Simon Gilbert goes up for a basket Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in a game against Sigonella in Vicenza, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Boys
Vicenza 51, Sigonella 45: The Cougars raced out to a 12-point advantage after a quarter, but then the Jaguars – playing their first season in Division II after only three victories a season ago – started beating Vicenza at its own game.
Sigonella scored seven straight points to open the second period and – led by the guard tandem of Bobby Gibbons and Jacob Maloney – started cutting the Cougars’ man-to-man defense to shreds. The result was a series of drives to the basket that ended in short floaters or acrobatic layups and a 27-27 tie at halftime.
“I told them, if they’re going to let you take them one on one, then do it,” Jaguars coach Jimmy Martin said.
Vicenza coach Jesse Woods eventually decided to go to a zone. And the Jaguars went cold from the outside and found fewer driving lanes. Unfortunately for the Cougars, their long-distance shooting was chilly as well, so the game stayed tight until midway into the final period.
The two Cougars with the most experience from the school’s last two championship teams then took over, keying an 8-0 run that gave Vicenza a lead Sigonella couldn’t overcome.
Point guard Dylan Horrigan and 6-foot-8 center Simon Gilbert each scored four points during the run. Horrigan finished with 12 points, while Gilbert had 16 and 10 rebounds.
“We needed this,” Woods said, adding that his team might have had a bit too much confidence due to its success in recent seasons. “We’ve got to come ready to play every game.
“We aren’t right yet. We’ve only had a few weeks of practice. We’ll get there.”
Martin and the Jaguars, meanwhile, gained some confidence with the close outcome.
“We’re already ahead of where we finished last year,” he said.
Gibbons finished with 18 points for the Jaguars and Maloney had 14.
Vicenza's Yareli Telles blocks a shot from Sigonella's Vina Dimapilis in the Cougars' 30-5 victory over the Jaguars on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Vicenza, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Sigonella’s Alysia Dobbins tries to prevent Vicenza’s Rory Fix from taking a shot Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in a game at Vicenza, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Sigonella's Alysia Dobbins launches a shot Friday, Dec.5, 2025, in a game against Vicenza in Vicenza, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza’s Lexie Pollard and Sigonella’s Arabella Jones battle for a rebound Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in a game at Vicenza, Italy. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Girls
Vicenza 30, Sigonella 5: Unlike the boys, the Cougars girls didn’t have to change their style of play to succeed Friday. They just have a coach who wants to see them play with a bit more structure when they must.
“We’re going to try to be more poised,” Vicenza coach John Kohut said. “Make our free throws, not let someone drive the length of the floor to beat us at the buzzer.”
Friday’s game was essentially over before the first quarter ended, as Vicenza scored the first 16 points. It was 26-1 at halftime as the Cougars had brought in mostly reserves and tried to run a more deliberate offense and not press on defense.
Vicenza was indeed more deliberate in the second half. But the Cougars only managed to put up four points in the third period and didn’t score in the fourth.
Not that Sigonella – missing two of its three returning starters from a year ago for this weekend’s games – was lighting up the scoreboard either.
But coach Caleb Pokorny didn’t let him get that down too much.
“They played their butts off the whole game,” he said of his team. “If we have that effort all year long, we’ll get better and that’s really all I can ask for as a coach.”
Mozi Okechukwu had a game-high 11 rebounds for the Jaguars.
Vicenza senior Trishauna Lewis, who played most of the game while her fellow starters saw limited action after the opening period, filled the stat book with eight points, 10 steals and nine rebounds. Jenina Smith scored 11 points in limited action.
