Warriors totally dominate in 52-8 blowout

THE PLAYERS on the WMHS girls’ basketball team gather in a circle to gear up for their opponent in a recent contest. The Warriors had a complete team effort and dominated in every facet of the contest against Winchester in a lopsided 52-8 victory yesterday afternoon at the Charbonneau Field House. (Donna Larsson File Photo)

THE PLAYERS on the WMHS girls’ basketball team gather in a circle to gear up for their opponent in a recent contest. The Warriors had a complete team effort and dominated in every facet of the contest against Winchester in a lopsided 52-8 victory yesterday afternoon at the Charbonneau Field House. (Donna Larsson File Photo)

Published in the January 19, 2016 edition.

By JIM SOUTHMAYD

WAKEFIELD — Warrior girls’ basketball head coach Meghan O’Connell, in her eighth year, has seen her team posted some one-sided victories during that time. But none was more dominating than yesterday’s win over Winchester.

The Wakefield Memorial High girls’ basketball team controlled the game from start to finish and outplayed the Sachems in every facet of the game as it routed Winchester, 52-8, at the Charbonneau Field House.

The Warriors outscored the Sachems 20-2 in the first quarter alone and never looked back. Wakefield led 30-4 at halftime and 47-4 after three quarters. Wakefield not only held Winchester to two points in each of the first two quarters but surrendered none in the third period. The fourth quarter was Winchester’s best as it netted four points against the Warrior reserves with the outcome having been determined far earlier.

“In my eight years, I have never seen a win like this,” said O’Connell, whose team is now 5-5 overall and 5-4 in the Middlesex League Freedom division. “We executed everything well. We really wanted to build on the Watertown game. We wanted to build on that against Winchester. We knocked down some shots down early. We played good defense. We forced a lot of turnovers. We rebounded and moved the ball around well.”

The defensive effort was a near perfect one as Winchester sank two foul shots in the first quarter, hit a field goal in the second quarter and recorded two baskets in the final quarter.

Offensively, Wakefield spread the wealth around as nearly everyone that played scored points. Leading the way was senior guard Grace Hurley with a game high nine points, while sophomore forward Allee Purcell netted eight points and sophomore Hailey Lovell scored seven points.

Junior Emma Butler and sophomore Olivia Dziadyk both scored six points, senior Mia Joyce recorded five points, freshman Hannah Butler and sophomore Ally Coggswell both netted four points and sophomore Hannah Dziadyk had three points.

“We were balanced offensively,” said O’Connell. “We spread the ball around.”

Hannah Dziadyk hit a three-pointer, Emma Butler sank a jump shot and both Hurley and Purcell recorded layups to give the Warriors a 9-0 advantage.

Winchester scored its first point with 5:10 left in the opening quarter as junior forward Tess Kneebone sank one of two foul shots.

Hurley canned a trey before junior forward Julie Fitzgerald made 1-of-2 two free throws for the Sachems to cut the lead to 12-2.

Wakefield closed out the first quarter scoring the final eight points to take a 20-2 lead after one. Lovell completed a three-point play with field goal and free throw, Joyce scored on a cutter to the basket and Olivia Dziadyk fired up and sank a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Lovell scored the first basket of the second quarter on a steal and a layup before junior forward Lindsay Hallowell sank a shot from down low near the baseline for Winchester’s first field goal of the game. That cut the lead to 22-4 with 5:59 remaining in the first half.

Wakefield netted the final eight points of the quarter to take a commanding 30-4 at halftime. Purcell hit from long range, Butler put back a missed shot, Hurley recorded a layup and Butler got a rebound and recorded the basket.

In the third quarter, the Warriors outscored the Sachems, 17-0. O’Connell, who regularly plays everyone on her bench, gave the reserves plenty of minutes during the course of the game. The bench played pretty much the entire fourth quarter.

In the third, Hurley scored on a drive to the basket, Purcell scored from a nice pass from Hannah Dziadyk and then netted another basket. Lovell and Coggswell then scored baskets before Joyce made one free throw and scored a basket a minute and a half later. Olivia Dziadyk scored the final basket of the frame as Wakefield led 47-4 after three.

The Warriors passed the ball around quite a bit in the final quarter and used up the shot clock before taking a shot before the buzzer or not at all. As a result, Wakefield scored only five points over the course of the final eight minutes. But it did have a slight edge over the winless Sachems, 5-4.

Senior guard Meghan Houllahan had a steal and a layup for the Sachems. But she was unable to compete the three-point play as she missed the free throw following the basket. Junior guard Chloe O’Callahan then sank a basket with 3:54 to go for Winchester’s final points of the contest.

The Warriors scored all five of their fourth quarter points after that. Coggswell and Hannah Butler each recorded baskets and Olivia Dziadyk sank 1-of-2 foul shots to make the final score 52-8.

“The bench players saw more time and showed a lot of improvement,” said O’Connell. “They’ll get better with more experience.”

Senior Gabby Joly and junior Julia Hanley were the only two Warrior players that didn’t score a point. But they contributed in other ways, particularly on defense, as Wakefield had a complete team effort in the lopsided win.

Wakefield will seek another strong effort when it faces Belmont on Friday night at 5 p.m. at the Charbonneau Field House. It will be the fourth straight home game for the Warriors. They are 2-1 so far during their current home stand.

—–

WAKEFIELD 52, Winchester 8

At Charbonneau Field House

—–

Winchester (8) — Fitzgerald 0 1 1; Kneebone 0 1 1; Casey 0 0 0; Houllahan 1 0 2; Blumsack 0 0 0; Hallowell 1 0 2; Fallon 0 0 0; Kenrich 0 0 0; Crowe 0 0 0; O’Callahan 1 0 2; Costales 0 0 0; Bourdeau 0 0 0. Totals 3 2 8.

WAKEFIELD (52) — Purcell 4 0 8; E.Butler 3 0 6; Joly 0 0 0; H.Dziadyk 1 0 3; Hurley 4 0 9; O.Dziadyk 2 1 6; Joyce 2 1 5; H.Butler 2 0 4; Lovell 3 1 7; Coggswell 2 0 4; Hanley 0 0 0. Totals 23 3 52.

Score By Quarters — Winchester 2-2-0-4 — 8. WAKEFIELD 20-10-17-5 — 52.

Three-point FGs — Win, None. Wak, H.Dziadyk 1, Hurley 1, O.Dziadyk 1.