This year, the Madison Country Day School girls varsity basketball team won their second consecutive regional championship. Last year was the first time in MCDS history. While posting a 15-10 record, five Trailways Conference award winners and a milestone that extended well beyond the court: every player on the roster earned 2025-26 Academic All-State honors from the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association.
The 11-player team was coached by head coach Kassi Conditt and assistant coaches Allison Dickman and Kim Gary. It was led in scoring by captains Zami ’28 and Ashlyn ‘28, as well as Elsa ’29. Zami finished the season with more than 1,000 career points.
Athletic Director Annie Gravel said there was “more excitement around the team” this year and called the season “incredibly successful.”
“We’re in a new phase of growth and excitement right now, and I really want to try and harness that energy not for the immediate future, but for the short term and long term future,” Gravel said. “Our school seems ready to embrace sports, and we can build school spirit and community spirit — like how there are more lower school kids going to the games.”
Gravel credited the coaching staff’s tone with shaping the program’s culture. The coaches “have that respect-all, fear-none attitude that you can see in the girls program,” she said. “They may be a young team, they may be a small team, but they’re gonna fight for anyone, and they’re gonna do it respectfully.”
Lily ’27, one of the team’s leading rebounders, has been part of the program since her freshman year. “I think we had a really good season — we made it pretty far in the tournament, and I think we did a good job at having a closer team,” she said. “I think we bonded a lot this year.”
The Academic All-State award, presented by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association, requires varsity athletes to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. All 11 players qualified.
Gravel said she sees the program’s momentum carrying forward, pointing to the incoming eighth-grade class as a sign of what’s ahead.
“I’m so excited,” Gravel said. “ur upcoming eighth-grade class, they are an exciting athletic class, and they are not only athletic but they are student athletes, and they want to be a part of what we’re building,” she said. “They are a really big and competitive group.”
