Members of the girls’ and boys’ seventh-and-eighth-grade teams were honored with trophies and applause at the Red Bank council meeting Wednesday night for their respective 2015 championships in the Two River Hoops Basketball League.

The girls in particular were called out by their coach, Mike Ballard, for their progress in recent years. “They started out as a fifth-and-sixth-grade team that could not win a game,” he said of the squad, known as the Bisons. “But they persevered.” Both the girls and the boys, known as the Bruins, went undefeated this season. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)