A few years ago, the Grant girls’ basketball team couldn’t buy a win and the program was
in disarray. Coach Michael Bontemps took over and things began to change. Now, his team has
swept through the Portland Interscholastic League this season with a 16-0 record in conference
play and 21-3 overall.

Payton Reynolds (left, with teammate Reagan Mims and Dyami Taylor, son of assistant coach Alicia Riddle): “We scrimmage and we were shooting around. It’s relaxing and stuff. We have a game coming up, and for me to be shooting with somebody that’s close to me – and we’re four days apart so it’s really a bond how we’ve been shooting around – it’s just so good to be on the hoop court…getting ready for a game. We’re the P.I.L. champions. It’s a good feeling.”

Coach Michael Bontemps (behind Mims): “This has been a three-year process. I wasn’t sure how successful we could be this year. I was hopeful we would be, but I wasn’t sure. So the things that we’ve been working on are starting to show up. For me as a coach, because I’ve been kind of working towards this, it’s fun to watch. I had this idea that we could do this, and now we are.”