A basketball career continues for a soon-to-be Thornton Academy graduate.

Hannah Ebling, the leading scorer for the Golden Trojans girls basketball team, will play at Springfield College next year.

Ebling said her decision came between Springfield and the University of Southern Maine, both Division III basketball programs. In the end, Ebling decided to play for the Pride to experience an out-of-state education.

“I think I just wanted to get away, get the whole college experience by being a couple hours away, but not too far,” Ebling said. “I love [Springfield head coach Naomi Graves], she’s awesome.”

Springfield, located in Springfield, Mass., the birthplace of basketball, finished the 2010-2011 season with a 13-14 record, but with a 12-6 conference record. Ebling had previous experience playing in the Springfield area in past AAU tournaments, but felt at home in her recruiting trip to the school.

“I went back this year for a couple of games this year, and the whole atmosphere, the teammates were very close, the whole school, I just loved the atmosphere,” Ebling said. “I stayed after to watch a practice, and almost all of the girls came up and introduced themselves and shook my hand, and I just felt really comfortable. I had never been to a practice where everybody came up and shook my hand, it felt very comforting.”

Ebling said it was Graves’ philosophy in the sport that attracted her to the program.

“Her whole philosophy on basketball is just what I’m looking for, and how she teaches the game is exactly what I’m looking for and used to playing,” Ebling said. “She’s very family oriented, says she won’t let me fail, and that’s very comforting.”

Springfield is a unique program in the fact that it has both a varsity and junior varsity program, meaning there’s plenty of in-program competition, something Ebling looks forward to.

“They definitely have great competition within the school itself,” Ebling said. “It just goes to show you how hard it is to make the team, and how competitive to actually have a JV team, and how much basketball is to the school. It’s good for me, because it’ll just make me work even harder.”

Ebling finished the season as the Golden Trojans leading scorer, tallying 12.1 points per game. She also received recognition as a McDonalds High School All-American nominee. Ebling, one of three graduating seniors from the program, had a successful run at Thornton, including a visit to the Western Class A quarterfinals during the 2009-2010 season.

The Trojans began the 2010-2011 season struggling out of the gate, going 2-8 in the first 10 games of the season. But Ebling, along with forward Meghan Agger, helped right the ship as the Trojans finished the second half of the season with a 6-2 record and another trip to the playoffs before bowing out to Bonny Eagle in the Western Class A preliminary game.

Ebling, one of three seniors, had to learn to play with a new coach in Eric Marston, who took over the position from Caryn Lasante, who switched to an assistant coach role with the team. Ebling said the move took some getting used to, but helped pull the team together down the stretch.

“We learned to push ourselves a lot in the offseason and during the season we began to gel and I thought we played together well,” Ebling said. “We had three opening spots that we needed to fill, and I think people really stepped up to the plate. Our goal was to make the playoffs again and we did that. Obviously, we wanted to go a little further, but we were proud to make the playoffs again.”

Ebling believes there’s plenty of talent for Thornton to improve next season, including the return of Agger, along with forward Olivia Shaw.

“I definitely think that will be a talented team next year,” Ebling said. “I just think Meghan Agger is an incredible player, and she just keeps getting better each year, and Jordan [Agger] and Olivia [Shaw], they’ll just getting better each season. There’s a couple of incoming freshmen that will be great additions for them. I definitely think that they’ll go long in the playoffs and do well.”

Ebling said she has no definitive plan yet on what she would like to major in at Springfield.

“I think I’ll go in undecided, maybe something in the sports field,” Ebling said.

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318.