The women’s Varsity basketball team took the opportunity to play at Quicken Loans Arena on the same court as many famous basketball players.

The girls faced Massillon Jackson at 3:30 pm on January 26. They left to get food, then came back to watch the Cavs play the Pacers at 7:30 pm. In late November, parents learned about the experience offered by the Cavs Elite High School Hoops Series at a preseason meeting. This series gives high school basketball teams the chance to play at the arena, get dinner then attend a Cavs game later that night. A mother of one of the players, Stacey Koutrodimos, offered to help coordinate ticket sales for the event in an effort to support the sports teams of which her children participate.

Koutrodimos explained why she supports the event and believes that it will serve as a great experience for the team.

“[This] is potentially a once a lifetime experience for many of these players to play in this professional arena. . . .This game will provide excellent exposure at the girls basketball program we have at Revere. We want to be able to provide this same opportunity in years to come to future Varsity players,” Koutrodimos said.

Manager of the Youth Sports and Sales Development at the Cavs Scott MacDonald is one of the main coordinators of this program. He explained how he connected with Revere and Jackson to set up the game.

“I work with many high school coaches, [athletic directors] and those in the youth basketball world, and we are always crossing paths. I had known both guys at Jackson and Revere and we had talked about setting up a game at The Q. Anthony Butch at Jackson and I first connected, and then he said they would play Revere, and we all got on the same page to make it happen.  It is really the coaches who make it happen for their team, players, staff and community,” MacDonald said.

MacDonald also commented on the program itself, touching on its growth over the years.

“The Cavs Elite High School Hoops Series has grown over the last couple of years to approximately 25 official High School basketball games each season with a majority of the teams from Ohio. We do get teams from upstate New York and western Pennsylvania each year as well,” MacDonald said.

The team has a record of 2-10, and their last game was Saturday February 10 at Nordonia.