Meet the 2023 winners of the Dave Cowens Achievement Awards

NEW BEDFORD — When Dave Cowens was first drafted by the Boston Celtics in the 1970 NBA Draft, some said that at 6-foot-9, he was too small to play center at that level, but through his dedication to hard work on and off the court, Cowens won both the 1971 Rookie of the Year and 1973 MVP awards and helped the Celtics to the NBA title in 1974 and 1976 during a 12-year playing career that saw him enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

In that spirit, the Dave Cowens Achievement Awards has been given out for nearly four decades to the Southeastern Mass. boys and girls high school senior basketball players who best represent the drive to do their best both on and off the court, and that was no exception during the 39th edition of the ceremony Sunday night at GNB Voc-Tech.

Out of a pool of 31 nominees, 18 boys and 13 girls, Bishop Stang's Bridget Markey and Old Rochester's Liam Geraghty were chosen as this year's Dave Cowens Achievement Award winners.

"It’s a great honor," said Markey. "It’s not an individual award but a testament to all of the people who’ve helped me get here and to all of the other candidates that also worked super hard to get here, congratulations as well."

For Markey, who completed in the New Bedford Half Marathon earlier that day, it was an eventful way to cap off the week.

"I’m not going to lie, my legs hurt, but this morning was a great accomplishment and this evening was a great accomplishment as well so I couldn’t be happier," Markey said. "It turned out to be a pretty good Sunday."

A four-year starter and two-year captain for the Spartans, Markey averaged 14.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.9 blocks this past season as she joined older brother and 2021 Dave Cowens Award recipient Declan Markey in the school's 1,000-point club.

"I’ve gotten to coach her for the four years as a varsity player and she’s just such a fantastic kid, and it’s even more than what she does on the basketball court, it’s what she does in the classroom and then just at Bishop Stang (in general)," Spartans coach Julie Letourneau said. "She’s one of the kindest people I’ve ever met and just really supportive of all of her teammates for sure and I bet if they were here today they’d speak so highly of her and just what a great leader she is and how supportive she is of all of them."

A three-sport athlete, Markey has a 4.3 GPA and is also a member of the soccer and tennis teams as well as the vice president of the Student Council, president of the Business Club and a member of the Model UN, National Honors Society and Bishop Stang Freshman Retreat Team. Outside of school, she also volunteers for the New Bedford Boys and Girls Club and My Brother's Keeper in Dartmouth and hopes to major in political science at a four-year institution starting in the fall.

For Markey, who came in as a freshman the same year Letourneau became the head varsity coach, the impact that her coach, who was a four-year RIIL champion with Ponaganset, has had on her could not be understated.

"Julie Letourneau and I started out the same year and I’ve had the opportunity to learn from one of the best players, so I’ve grown as a player on the court and as a person off the court from her mentorship, so I couldn’t be more grateful for that," Markey said.

The feeling is mutual for Letourneau.

"It’s just so special between coaching Bridget and then (fellow seniors) Sophie Caldwell, Eleanor Senna and Kate Carreau, those four will always have a special place in my heart," Letourneau said. "I feel like I look back at coaches who I had that type of relationship with and they’re still friends of mine and people who look out for me as an adult and I hope that type of a relationship continues."

To Letourneau, Markey is exactly the type of player any basketball coach would want.

"She always puts forward her best effort on the court," Letourneau said. "She’s exhausted at the end of the game. She pretty much always played the entire game, always defending one of their best players and we counted on her to score for us as well. She just had a tremendous season and I was just really happy that she was able to score her 1,000th point and get on that banner with her brother. She’s just a tremendous player and was extremely important for us this year. This is also the second year that we made it to the playoffs and lost in the Sweet 16, but I think that just shows what a competitive program we’re building at Bishop Stang."

Regardless of the season's outcome, Markey said she was proud of the way her teammates all came together and rose to the level of their competition.

"We‘re in a harder conference, so when things don’t go your way, you have to keep your head up and especially working together with my team and becoming unified has shown through this season," Markey said.

While she may not be with the Spartans next year, the impact of her leadership on her younger teammates will certainly be felt.

"We have a tremendous group of young players and they all just look towards Bridget and she’s been a tremendous role model for them," Letourneau said. "Sometimes it’s hard for seniors to interact with freshmen because there’s such an age gap, but that was not an issue with Bridget as she was always with the JV group and mentoring younger players and they really look up to her and I know that they’ll be very happy for her as well."

New Bedford's Vanessa Bucha and Westport's Leah Sylvain were named as finalists for the award, while on the boys side, Apponequet's Joshua Keller and Bristol-Plymouth's Tucker Bumila were both named finalists.

For Geraghty, the award was a complete honor.

"It means a lot," Geraghty said. "These past three years I’ve formed a great relationship with (Old Rochester coach Steve Carvalho) and put in a lot of work with my teammates so it feels great to receive this honor."

A three-year starter for the Bulldogs, Geraghty helped lead his team to back-to-back South Coast Conference titles and Elite Eight appearances. During his senior campaign, he scored 340 points, including 30 three-pointers, averaging 15.2 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. He led the way in the Division 3 Round of 32 matchup against No. 30 Groton-Dunstable with 21 points before the Bulldogs ultimately fell to No. 2 St. Mary's of Lynn in the Final Four, falling one game short of a chance at the state title.

"Obviously we wanted to win the state championship and it didn’t happen, but my friends and I had these goals and we worked hard in the offseason and I think that showed," Geraghty said. "We got as far as we could and we gave it our all."

For Carvalho, Geraghty was everything he could ask for in a player.

"He’s a very well-deserving candidate, not just as a basketball player but as a student-athlete and more importantly as a citizen," Carvalho said. "He’s just a wonderful young man who’s been raised right, comes from a great family and what he did for this program as a basketball player and the success he had had a lot to do with his teammates, but Liam led the charge. He was as consistent as any guard in the area and he really did it all for us out there."

Also a captain of the soccer team, Geraghty is a member of the National Honors Society and has a 4.1 GPA. He's served as an MIAA representative and has volunteered with the Old Rochester Unified Basketball team and the Tri-Town Youth Basketball League. Following graduation, he plans to continue his academic and basketball career at either Union College, the University of New England or Bridgewater State, or entering the honors program at UMass.

"As a coach, I’ve taught my captains to lead by example (and) that there’s a lot of young kids in the stands that look up to them and I think that’s very important, but also Liam’s the one in the gym after practice getting up extra shots and the first one to be there and the last one to leave," Carvalho said. "He’s meant a lot to us and I’m sure going to miss him and not sure what we’re going to do without him, but I’m very proud of him for winning an award that means a lot for Southeastern Mass. basketball."

It's that work ethic that Geraghty knows has driven him to success, and is something he plans on keeping up.

"I was a kid who’d be up every morning playing and any chance I got to put the extra work in, I’d take it, so I just think (this award) represents the hard work that I put in," he said. "It means a lot to me that it shows it paid off."

Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Stang’s Markey, Old Rochester’s Geraghty win 2023 Dave Cowens Awards