General mayhem rules in Div. 2 North semifinal against Hamilton-Wenham

Warriors suffer heartbreaking 54-53 loss in back-and-forth contest

Published in the March 9, 2017 edition.

By DAN BYRNE

WOBURN — Sometimes the toughest part of having a great season is the letdown at the end if your team doesn’t go all the way and win a state championship.

On Wednesday night at Woburn High School, the girls of the Wakefield Memorial High School varsity basketball team experienced the agony of defeat, following a one point loss in the Div. 2 North semifinals against Hamilton-Wenham, 54-53.

Warrior head coach Meg O’Connell spoke about the game and her team’s season after the game.

“What a game, it’s so exciting to be part of,” O’Connell said following the game. “They made one more play than we did, they’re a great team. They’re excellent defensively. They shot great at the foul line. They made one extra play than us, and all the credit to them.”

Wakefield shot 15-for-27 from the charity stripe (56 percent), while the Generals made 16 out of 23 foul shots (70 percent). In a one point game that proved to be a huge factor in the Warriors’ tournament run coming to an end.

“This group has really elevated the Wakefield program to another level,” the coach added. “This is the first league title (team) since 1999. We had a great record this year to earn the spot that we did, and we just competed hard for 32 minutes every night.”

Junior guard Hannah Dziadyk was electric all night for the Warriors as she led all scorers with 24 points.

“Hannah scored well for us tonight, and she’s tough as nails, that’s for sure,” O’Connell said.

The Warriors established a big lead very early, as they put the first 12 points on the board, but then struggled with turnovers. Finding open shots became elusive and the Warriors couldn’t find their shot.

Hamilton-Wenham went on to outscore Wakefield 10-3 in the final 3:45 of the first quarter and the Warriors were up 15-10 after one quarter.

“Their pressure got to us a little bit after that. We had some turnovers, they started to score, we weren’t getting attempts, so credit their defense on that,” Coach O’Connell said.

Generals senior Liz Kirschner helped the Generals back into the game in the second period with 14 of her team high 16 points coming in the quarter.

Emma Butler added four points and Allee Purcell had two in the second for Wakefield, which was once again led by Dziadyk with eight points in the quarter.

At halftime, the two teams were tied at 30-30.

The two teams battled throughout the third quarter, with neither team able to grab a clear advantage.

Purcell, a junior forward, led the way for the Warriors with seven points in the third quarter to help the Warriors to a one point advantage headed into the final frame.

The Warriors had eight minutes to defend a one point lead, and it was a see-saw affair, with both teams edging out in front.

With five minutes to play the Generals took a six point lead, but the Warriors climbed back in behind Dziadyk’s nine points in the fourth quarter.

The two teams traded the lead over the final two minutes of the contest.

A pair of free throws by Dziadyk made the score a one point game with Wakefield ahead 50-49.

At the other end, Hamilton-Wenham’s Cecily Szady had a basket to put the Generals up 51-50.

An Olivia Dziadyk bucket put Wakefield back on top 52-51.

A foul put Hamilton-Wenham’s Kelly Walsh at the line, where she made two foul shots to put the Generals up 53-52.

With 11 seconds to play down by one, O’Connell called timeout to set up a play. The ball was put inbounds under the basket, but the Warriors had a mix up and threw the ball away.

A quick foul sent Hamilton-Wenham’s Cate Blatchford to the line, where she made one of two free throws put the Generals up 54-52.

With nine seconds remaining, the Warriors raced up the floor and Purcell got a good look at a layup that wouldn’t fall. She fought to get the rebound and her put back wouldn’t go down either, but the referees called a foul with 1.5 seconds left to play.

Purcell needed both free throws to tie the game, and after sinking the first, her second attempt was long, off the backboard and rim and out. The rebound was tipped around and time expired on the Warriors.

Unfortunately the victory wasn’t in the cards for Wakefield, as the Generals outscored Wakefield 15-13 in the final quarter to secure the one point victory and move onto the North final to face Arlington Catholic.

The loss means the end of the line for three of Wakefield’s seniors and Coach O’Connell had some words of praise for them saying, “We have a great group of seniors who are selfless and would do anything for the team. Emma Butler has been with the program for three years, and she’s done the dirty work covering six foot centers on other teams, and she gave us some buckets tonight.”

She added, “Julia Hanley has improved every season in the program. She is a really good rebounder and shot blocker, like we saw tonight. Brianna Smith came in and had an outstanding season for us at the guard position, giving us effort defensively and finishing fast break layups.

“Everyday they’re looking to do what’s best for the team, I couldn’t ask for a better group of seniors,” the coach said of her three captains.

The loss means an end to an exciting and successful season for Coach O’Connell and the Warriors. Wakefield wrapped up the year with a 17-5 overall record and finished with a 12-4 record in the Middlesex League Freedom division and was a co-champion with Watertown.

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Div. 2 North Girls’ Basketball Tournament

Semifinal Round At Woburn High School

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Hamilton-Wenham (54) — Flynn 3 0 7; Shea 0 0 0; J.Fibbe 0 0 0; Walsh 4 2 10; Baker 1 1 3; C.Szady 3 6 12; Blatchford 1 4 6; Rivers 0 0 0; Dolan 0 0 0; Kirschner 5 3 16. Totals 17 16 54.

WAKEFIELD (53) — H.Butler 0 1 1; Smith 1 1 3; Catino 0 0 0; Hanley 0 0 0; Lovell 1 0 2; O.Dziadyk 2 1 6; E.Butler 2 0 4; Purcell 5 3 13; Greatorex 0 0 0; H.Dziadyk 6 9 24. Totals 17 15 53.

Score by Quarters — Hamilton-Wenham 10-20-9-15 — 54. WAKEFIELD 15-15-10-13 — 53.

Three-point FGs — H-W, Kirschner 3, Flynn 1. Wak, H.Dziadyk 3, O.Dziadyk 1.