Alconbury center Aaron Dudley floats a shot over Baumholder defenders Leo Kirkland, center left, and Gregory Makubuya, bottom center, during a Division III pool-play game at the 2025 DODEA European basketball championships on Feb. 13, 2025, at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center on Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

WIESBADEN, Germany – Two Division III programs proved Thursday that others never should underestimate championship pedigree.

The Baumholder boys and the AFNORTH girls teams, both third seeds in this year’s DODEA European basketball championships, stepped onto the court at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center on Clay Kaserne as the underdogs in their matchups against No. 2 seeds in their respective tournaments, Alconbury and Ansbach.

The Buccaneers and Lions have made winning chronic. The Baumholder boys went on a run of five straight titles that ended last year, while the AFNORTH girls collected two of the last three crowns.

Both squads showcased why they are consistently near the top of the small-schools division. The Buccaneers controlled the Dragons from start to finish to win 53-45, while the Lions doubled up the Cougars 28-14.

“We all do our best to try to convey what that felt like to them,” AFNORTH senior captain Selah Skariah said. “I tell the girls, mentality and physicality – those are the two things, and we need to make sure we’re aggressive every time.

“We say ‘foot on the throat.’”

The parallels between the Baumholder boys (11-6) and AFNORTH girls (12-3) stretched beyond just their championship credentials.

The teams they faced Thursday morning were squads that swept them not even two weeks prior – both on the road.

Lion coach Matt Wise said his team learned a lot from those losses and deployed them against the Cougars (12-5) during the pivotal pool-play game.

“If you have your team in the right place, you’re learning more from your losses than you are ever from your victories,” Wise said. “As paradoxical as it sounds, it’s harder to go through the season undefeated because you never really know what you need to improve on.

“That’s what those two losses did.”

A major difference for the Lions came on the defensive side of the ball.

AFNORTH held Ansbach center Kennedy Lange and forward Elizabeth Agudzi-Addo to four points each. Agudzi-Addo scored all her points in the first half, while Lange posted hers in the fourth quarter.

In the two losses on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, the duo combined for 22 points in each game.

Skariah credited Maggie Masse for shutting down Lange until she fouled out in the fourth quarter. Then, freshman Isabelle Trosper came off the bench and held Lange in check.

“(Masse) held down their post the whole time,” said Skariah, who totaled seven points in the win. “We had a sub come in, and we just told her, ‘We need you now.’”

Skariah’s teammate Emery Koger paced the Lions with nine points.

Baumholder small forward Jaylon Bilbrew goes up for a layup against Alconbury guard Vincent Sheehan during a Division III pool-play game at the 2025 DODEA European basketball championships on Feb. 13, 2025, at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center on Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Hohenfels guard Theo Reyes throws a pass as AFNORTH guard Stefan Termure defends during a Division III pool-play game at the 2025 DODEA European basketball championships on Feb. 13, 2025, at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center on Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Hohenfels forward Jillian Odhiambo looks to shoot against Spangdahlem center Brooklyn Shakir-Bacchus during a Division III pool-play game at the 2025 DODEA European basketball championships on Feb. 13, 2025, at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center on Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

The Buccaneers, meanwhile, looked a little different against the Dragons. Gregory Makubuya was back, and coach Dwanye Piggé said having his full lineup changes things for his squad.

Baumholder led by double digits for most of the game until Alconbury (13-3) made a few shots at the end. Still, the Dragons scored 15 and 16 fewer points than during the Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 meetings.

“When we first played them, we were not playing as we should, but once we came out here and got on the court, we had energy,” said Baumholder’s Jaylon Bilbrew, who totaled a game-high 20 points against the Dragons. “We just did what we had to do.”

Baumholder was in such control that it used a stall offense pretty early in the fourth quarter and ran it to near perfection. The Buccaneers committed just a few turnovers and created either easy buckets or numerous trips to the charity stripes.

That allowed Baumholder to sap the energy out of the game.

“We do it every day in practice,” Piggé said. “Repetition and making the kids become more disciplined with it. Repetition in a four-point offense, in a control-management kind of offense when it comes to the clock, it’s very important to do repetition.”

Baumholder still had to play Brussels later to seal the top seed out of its pool, and the team did so 49-15. That set up a semifinal bout with the AFNORTH boys team on Friday afternoon at Wiesbaden High School. Tip-off is set for 12:15 p.m.

The Buccaneers are optimistic about getting back to the title game after a one-year hiatus.

“We’re feeling good about it,” Bilbrew said. “We feel like we can get to the championship.”

The other boys semifinal sees top-seeded Hohenfels take on Alconbury, while the AFNORTH girls will face Spangdahlem in one semifinal and top-seeded Hohenfels plays Ansbach at Wiesbaden Middle School.

Hohenfels forward Kariana Jones goes up for a shot against Spangdahlem center Brooklyn Shakir-Bacchus, left, and Aniya Robinson, center left, during a Division III pool-play game at the 2025 DODEA European basketball championships on Feb. 13, 2025, at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center on Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

AFNORTH guard Emery Koger goes up for a layup after getting past Ansbach center Kennedy Lange during a Division III pool-play game at the 2025 DODEA European basketball championships on Feb. 13, 2025, at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center on Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Ansbach forward Victoria Ortiz shoots during a Division III pool-play game aganst AFNORTH at the 2025 DODEA European basketball championships on Feb. 13, 2025, at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center on Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Alconbury forward Kai Vickerstaff and Sigonella forward Makari Spencer dive after a loose ball during a Division III pool-play game at the 2025 DODEA European basketball championships on Feb. 13, 2025, at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center on Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)