Melrose hoop girls put scare in Watertown

Close 43-37 loss shows plenty of offensive effort

By JENNIFER GENTILE

MELROSE—While their effort ended in a loss, the Melrose High girls’ basketball team had one of their more impressive games of the season against a talented Watertown team (10-3) at home on Friday, Jan. 26 at the first annual Melrose Basketball Night, giving fans of all ages a treat.

The competitive clash ended in a 43-37 loss but Melrose kept the game close during much of the evening.

Leading scoring for Melrose was Sofia DiCalogero with 10 points, but it was a well spread out offensive effort and that showed in the opening of the game when Olivia DellaPorta put Melrose on the board with a hook shot. Alex Leeman had a strong first quarter with a layup and foul line appearance that helped Melrose stay within range before Lily Nolan (8 pts) and Lara McLusas hit shots to keep Melrose close, down 13-9, at the end of the first.

Melrose kept at it in the second with an impressive Scarlett D’Addio three pointer, another basket from McLusas and a Lily Nolan layup fed off a nice Sofia DiCalogero assist. Though Watertown held the lead at 22-17, the game was within reach for Melrose, who battled Watertown Raider standout Lily Lambo most of the night.

By the third, the Raiders took a larger lead of 30-19, despite a great quarter from Melrose’s DiCalogero, who was flawless on the foul line going 4-4 and also added a layup.

But by the fourth quarter Melrose rolled into high gear with an excellent offensive and defensive effort, spurred by a Scarlet D’Addio layup, a basket from Nolan, who also had a steal that resulted in a foul line appearance where she went 2-2. With just two minutes left, Olivia DellaPorta had fans on their feel with a key basket to pull Melrose within four at 40-36. However, attempts at three pointers fell flat for Melrose and the clock did the rest as Melrose fell, 43-37.

There is plenty of season left with 8 games remaining on the schedule. Melrose will hit the road for the next two games including a trip to Burlington this Friday evening at 7 and to Concord Carlisle on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.