Jeremiah Rice – Greenbelt (Eleanor Roosevelt) Photo: Nili Schriebman (IG)
By: Faith Harris
Greenbelt (Eleanor Roosevelt) came into the Summer League looking for redemption. Returning for their fourth year with Capital Hoops SL, Greenbelt wanted to rebuild from their 2-6 showing in the 2024 season. Their high school season ending in a crushing loss to Flowers High School in the regional finals only added fuel to that comeback.
The Summer league returners looked calm and collected early in their day one matchup against Takoma Academy. Greenbelt took a halftime nine-point lead and held on for an 81-74 victory, securing their first win of the summer league season.
“I think the one thing I did like that stood out to me was our defensive intensity,” Greenbelt head coach said. “Everybody contributed, played hard, and was really intentional about playing defense.”
Defense had to be solid to hold back Takoma Academy’s weapon, Nick Parrish. The 2026 guard’s midrange jumper kicked off scoring for Takoma Academy, but he wouldn’t stop there, going 5-9 from the field in the first half and finishing the matchup with 25 points.
Greenbelt posted a strong defensive matchup with eight steals and 32 defensive rebounds in the match. 14 of those rebounds were from 2026 guard Donte Whitaker.
Whitaker was also Greenbelt’s best offensive shooter in the matchup, scoring 26 points and recording a double-double. The Eastern Automotive Player of the Game stressed that the defense would be a focus for his squad in summer ball.
“We’re trying to create a defensive identity, where we can get stops at any point in time and just run up the score off of stops and steals,” Whitaker said.
Tristan King also produced for Greenbelt with a 14-point showing. The 2026 guard hit a critical three-pointer to take a lead over Takoma Park that Greenbelt wouldn’t lose.
Greenbelt put up 41 and 40 points in each half, respectively, increasing their FG% from 45.5% to 60% in the second half.