DETERMINED DONATO ON CUSP OF 1,000 POINTS
Tyngsboro star, cut from fifth-grade team, shows resilience
TYNGSBORO >> When Gianna Donato was in the fifth grade, she would plant herself in front of the television and watch basketball. Although she had never touched a ball, she would say over and over, “I want to do that.”
She mustered the courage to try out for the Tyngsboro fifthgrade travel team, but didn’t make it. Instead of pouting, putting the basketball in a closet for good and going back to watching TV, she did something about it.
She worked on her game. And then worked some more.
Tyngsboro High fans are glad she did. They’ve had the pleasure of watching Donato make a spirited run at the coveted 1,000-point milestone. The senior needs seven points Thursday night against Quabbin Regional (6 p.m. start) on her home court to become the eighth player in program history to reach 1,000.
After getting cut from the travel team, Donato elected to join the Town’s Recreational League. A year later she made the sixth-grade travel team before making the leap to club ball.
“When I started playing that year in the rec league, people kept telling me that I was really fast and would say that I had a bright future with the game. I just stuck with it and just practiced all of the time,” she said. “Basketball just became my number one sport. I would just focus on it as much as I could. I’d practice all of the time.”
Her speed and athleticism got her through not only those elementary and junior high years, but also as a ninth-grader with the high school team.
“I literally scored 27 points that entire freshman season. At the end of my sophomore year I was able to come out of that really bad slump,” she said. “I was able to figure out how to get out of it. Junior year is when I started working with an athletic trainer and it helped me get out of slump and got me more confidence on the court.”
Thanks to working with the trainer and constantly im
proving her skills, Donato staged a memorable junior season. A Sun All-star, she was the CO-MVP of the Midwach C League, averaging 18.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 4.7 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.
She netted a career-high 37 points against Clinton, had three double-doubles and 20 points or more in 11 of 24 games, helping the
Tigers finish 17-7 and advance to the Division 4 final 8.
“Gianna is incredibly explosive. She’s the best athlete on the court in every game, or in most games that we play,” said THS head coach Zach Richall. “She just continues to get better in basketball. The challenge for her was to better things like play better defense and rebound and she’s been unbelievable at those things year, including taking a lot of charges. She’s also been a real vocal leader and she’s just a better person than she is a basketball player. She’s always willing to help her teammates out, she does well in school, her teachers love her and she’s just an A-plus student-athlete.”
This year her state are almost the same. She has helped the Tigers get off to a 13-1 start, while she is averaging 17.2 points per game. She’s shooting over 35 percent from the threepoint line.
“She has an unbelievable quick crossover step to get to the basket,” said Richall. “She finishes through contact. She’s probably one of the better players in transition. She has worked really hard with her shot to make it where it is and she’s over 30 percent (from the field) this season. She’s passing the ball more, defensively she looks for steals and pushes the ball to get us into transition.”
All of those improvements have also landed Donato a spot next season with the Endicott
College women’s team. She intends on becoming a nurse. Until then, she’s chomping at the bit of making a little Tiger history Thursday night.
“I always looked up to the other people who have achieved this. Just knowing that I came out of this after my freshman and sophomore seasons where I feel like I made no impact at all on those teams, and knowing that I’ll be on the list with the others, is such a great accomplishment,” she said.