Mackenzie Burke of Norwich Free Academy, reigning Eastern Connecticut Conference girls’ basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player, and Caitlyn Dittman of St. Bernard, Class S all-state selection in the same sport, have been AAU teammates with the Connecticut Storm since the sixth grade.

They’re also best friends.

“We basically grew up together, so everything,” Dittman said, asked what the two have in common. “Except she always made us watch scary movies and I was not a fan. We’ll FaceTime … we’re kind of like each other’s therapists.”

But going to college together, too?

A total coincidence. Honestly.

Burke and Dittman each committed recently to play for the women’s basketball team at Division II Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y., a part of Long Island, beginning with the 2017-18 season.

The girls traveled to the Adelphi campus separately to visit and work out with the team and were offered spots by first-year coach Missy Traversi, but were afraid to tell each other how it went in case one or the other didn’t make the cut.

“Eventually, when I found out, my mom posted it on Facebook,” Dittman said. “Mac got the call like an hour earlier, but she had volleyball, so she didn’t post until after her volleyball game.

“… It’s real exciting. I committed on the spot. I fell in love with the school. It’s one of the best schools I toured.”

Burke and Dittman both made significant contributions to their high school programs beginning as freshmen.

Burke has helped lead NFA to ECC tournament wins all three seasons, last year topping Waterford 57-52 in overtime. A guard, Burke finished with 23 points and eight rebounds and scored seven of the Wildcats’ nine points in overtime against the Lancers. NFA reached the Class LL state tournament quarterfinals and finished 10th in the final GameTimeCT/Register Top 10 poll.

Dittman, meanwhile, has adopted a role at a small school, St. Bernard, the alma mater of both her parents and all her aunts and uncles on both sides of the family. Dittman, a 6-foot-1 center, also led her team to the quarterfinals last season in Class S and received notoriety earlier in the season for a game in which she had 43 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

“It’s been the best experience ever,” Burke said of playing for NFA. “I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else. (The coaches) know the game of basketball by heart, they push me to do my best; I couldn’t thank them more.”

Burke plans to major in pre-med and Dittman speech pathology while the two play for Traversi, the former coach at Wheelock College in Boston and a prominent AAU coach in Massachusetts.

“I absolutely love coach Traversi. She’s young and she has a ton of new ideas,” Burke said. “The girls are funny and nice and they have a style of play that’s similar to NFA’s. I’m very fortunate to have gotten a scholarship.

“… (My relationship with Caitlyn) is definitely humerous. We make the most of whatever the situation is. She and I are glued together forever. She’s my center and I’m her guard.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com