Staff Report

Darby Chhabria, a senior at Cherry Hill East, doesn’t get a lot of publicity, but has quietly had a tremendous career as a three-sport athlete for the Cougars.

In the fall, Chhabria helped lead Cherry Hill East’s girls soccer team to a third-place finish in the always tough Olympic Conference’s American Division and a berth in the South Jersey Group 4 quarterfinals. She had four goals and an assist on a team that won 10 games. She played her first two years at Camden Catholic before transferring back to East

On the basketball court, however, is where Chhabria really flourished. The guard scored nearly 400 points as a senior and had seven double-doubles. She scored in double figures in 22 of East’s 25 games, with only state champion Cherry Hill West, Bishop Eustace and Lenape holding her to less than 10 points.

Chhabria also hit 30 three-pointers as a senior and averaged more than a steal per game on defense. She finished her career with more than 1,000 points and more than 500 rebounds, and was first-team all-Olympic Conference as both a junior and senior.

Her accolades continued into the spring seasons, too, as she’s also a standout lacrosse player for the Cougars. She had 45 goals, 31 assists and 191 draw controls this season, finishing her career with more than 100 goals and more than 300 draw controls.

Chhabria, who plans to play basketball at Division III national power Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, next year, comes from a very athletic family. The three-sport captain transferred back to Cherry Hill East to get a chance to play with her cousin, Dylan Kratchman (a sophomore guard who averaged 11 points per game this past winter). Both girls are daughters of East graduates, and Darby has an older brother, Zachary, who was a Carpenter Cup selection and now plays at Drew University, and her younger sister, Ava, will be a freshman this fall.

“Darby has that relentless mentality — her refusal to back down in the face of adversity,” said Cherry Hill East girls basketball coach Mike Mancinelli. “Her approach to basketball wasn’t just about skill, but also having the toughness to keep pushing even when things got tough. Bowdoin is getting a great basketball player, a leader and a true competitor.”