Welcome to the Northeastern Panthers Organization website! We are delighted to have you check out our website. This page will provide you some history about our AAU basketball club representing the New England Region (NEAAU).
In November 2001 the Lowell Panther Organization was created to assist the Merrimack Valley young athletes an opportunity to play AAU basketball. After our first tryouts in 2001, we successfully created one boys (11u) team and two girls teams (13u and 15u) totally 36 student-athletes and three head coaches for the 2002 spring/summer season. As the years progressed by 2004 we had increased our girls program to seven AAU teams (two 11u, 12u, 13u, 14u, 15u, 16u) and introduced our AAU Elite Program for the first time with one 16u Elite team. Our AAU teams have participated in tournaments both locally as well as cities throughout the New England area.
In 2004 our 16u Elite team went National by participating in college showcases throughout the New England area as well as Phoenix, Arizona. The travel paid off as members of the 2004 16u Elite team received recruitment letters from schools throughout the United States. Also in 2004 our 12u participated in the Division 2 AAU National tournament where the team finished 8th place overall.
In 2005 we hosted five AAU teams (two 12u, 13u, 14u, 15u) and three AAU Elite teams (15u, 16u, 17u) which totaled 89 student-athletes and eight head coaches. Once again our teams were a huge success both locally and nationally. Our organization results for the 2005 season can be viewed by clicking here ---> 2005 Results Our 16u and 17u Elite teams participated in the 2005 Nike USA CUP in Chicago, IL where they finished 18th and 22nd place respectively. This is a HUGE compliment considering 224 teams attended the event. Our 16u team then traveled to Las Vegas and participating in the Vision Sports NYBC where they finished 2nd in pool play and 7th overall defeating teams from Canada, California and Texas. As the summer progressed team members began to receive recruitment letters from D1, D2 and D3. Schools like UCONN, Harvard, Princeton, Villanova, Binghamton, Santa Clara, Lehigh, Boston College, Bowling Green State, Western Kentucky, Mount Holyoke, Brandeis, Occidental College, Emory University, Georgia, WPI, UMASS~Lowell, Skidmore and Salem State to name a few. In addition, 2005 brought some historical highlights for the club. The organization announced a new name change from the Lowell Panthers Organization to the Northeastern Lady Panthers. We felt the new name represented truly who we are and where we are from.
In 2006 we hosted four AAU teams (12u, 13u, 14u, 16u) and three Elite teams (15u, and two 16u) which totaled 77 student-athletes and six head coaches. Our organization results can be viewed by reviewing our 2006 Results. Our spring season teams attended tournaments within the New England area as well as the national scene by attending Penn State and AAU D2 nationals tournaments too. We are very proud of all 77 student-athletes and their contributions on and off the floor this season. At the conclusion of our spring 2006 season the organization honored two student-athletes for their dedication to basketball as well as this AAU organization. Kendrea Renea Oliver (#23) and Casey Landrigan (#13) both were honored with being the first student-athletes to have their jerseys retired. Both student-athletes have participated in all NINE of our AAU seasons that we have hosted. We are very proud of their personal accomplishment on the court (both AAU and HS) as well as in the classroom. In addition to Kendrea and Casey the organization is saddened to say goodbye to other members of the class of 2007. The class of 2007 class yields the biggest graduating class this organization has to date. Many of these student-athletes will continue to play basketball in college while others will attend the college of their choice based on academic and other interest/talents they have. We wish each of you the best of luck in all your personal endeavors. We are extremely proud of each of you. A list of the organizations alumni can be found on our Alumnae page. This page will continued to be updated as the class of 2007 make their final decisions. Also in the fall of 2006 the Northeastern Panthers Organization was invited to be the premier AAU basketball club at the brand new Rockingham Athletic Club, a 50,000 sq ft facility in Plaistow, NH. We will also begin to expand our program to boys teams 9u thru 16u as well. Complete facility details and up to date pictures can be found by visiting the home page of this website.
We thank you for taking the time to visit our website and to learn more about our program. Rather you are new to AAU looking for a place to play or simply checking in to see with the Northeastern Lady Panthers are up to, we thank you for reviewing our website.
See you on the court!
Sincerely,
Michele Oliver
President ~ NE Lady Panther Operations