Girls’ hoop team works a little overtime

Warriors come up short in 43-41 thriller

Published in the December 22, 2015 edition.

By DAN BYRNE

WAKEFIELD — Girls’ basketball tipped off at the Charbonneau Field House for the first time this hoop season as the Warriors hosted Arlington High School.

Head Coach Meghan O’Connell’s Warriors came into the game 1-1 having knocked off Reading on Friday. They were hoping to open the season up at home the right way and add another win to the tally but after four quarters and an overtime period, the Warriors fell to the Spy Ponders, 43-41, to fall to 1-2.

Coach O’Connell’s team played its trademark smothering defense in the first half. The Warriors held the visitors to seven first quarter and five second quarter points to hold a 16-12 lead at halftime.

“I know they scored like 70 in their last game,” Coach O’Connell said of Arlington, commenting on the team defense.

Wakefield trailed 7-6 after the first quarter, though it held the lead most of the way.

It looked like the Warriors might pull away at points in the second quarter after a pair of Grace Hurley free throws, an Emma Butler bucket and a Gabby Joly basket resulted an 8-7 lead bulging to a 12-7 advantage.

Arlington had an answer in the form of Rosalie Flinn, who sank a three-point field goal to stop the Warriors’ 6-0 run to start the second quarter. Flinn and Mallory Defeo led the way for the Spy Ponders with 12 points apiece.

Hurley led all scorers with 14 points in the loss for the Warriors.

Olivia Dziadyk erupted for nine points in the third quarter. After she sent the Warriors on a 5-0 run in the matter of seconds, converting an one-and-one and also getting a feed from her sister, Hannah, to give the Warriors a seven point lead. Hurley followed up with another two and the Warriors led by nine.

However, Arlington got a free throw the next time down from Grace Caulo and then stopped Wakefield from scoring to set up Margret Ammondson’s three-point effort that cut the lead back down to five.

The two teams traded baskets until the end of the third with Arlington’s Ammondson’s two free throws cutting the lead down to three before the start of the fourth quarter.

Hurley opened the scoring for Wakefield in the fourth but Ammondson canceled it out with two of her own. Then Allee Purcell sent the Warriors on a 4-0 run to bump the lead up to seven at 35-28.

It looked like Wakefield was going to put the finishing touch on the Spy Ponders but a foul at the other end sent Arlington to the free throw line. Though the Spy Ponders didn’t convert on either shot, the momentum was quashed for the Warriors. Ammondson got the next basket for Arlington followed by a Flinn three-pointer. Caulo then hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 35-35.

Wakefield took a couple of shots to regain the lead but couldn’t get anything to go down. Arlington got the ball back and Defeo scored her only two points of the fourth quarter to give the Spy Ponders a two point lead at 37-35 with 11.4 remaining.

Wakefield got down the floor, Coach O’Connell called timeout to set up a play and the Warriors got a good look. The first try didn’t go down but the rebound came to Purcell and she put the ball in to tie the game with under five seconds to go.

Arlington tried to get it up the floor but at the buzzer it didn’t get a shot away and the game went into overtime.

In the overtime, a DeFeo basket gave Arlington a two point lead, then Caulo made it four with two of her seven points.

Hurley was fouled on the next Wakefield possession and hit 1-of-2 from the line to cut the lead to three points.

The Warriors came up with a key stop on the next defensive possession and Hurley came down and made a lay up and got fouled. She made the free throw to tie it at 41-41.

Arlington came down and got fouled sending DeFeo to the line, where she made both free throws to give Arlington a 43-41 lead.

Wakefield had the ball in the front court and called for timeout with 2.4 seconds to go. The inbound pass to Hurley was tipped so the clock began to run, causing her to have to hurry her three-point attempt. The shot was no-good, although it looked as though Hurley was fouled in the act of shooting. No call was ever made and the game ended with Arlington taking the game by two points.

“They fought so hard,” Coach O’Connell said after the game. “They made some huge plays to tie the game and in overtime, Grace’s one-and-one, she hit the free-throw. It always comes down to who is going to make that last play in a close game. Give credit to Arlington. They have some veteran players out there who made some plays at the end. I’m just so proud of our girls and our effort and we just have to keep fighting.”

A close game like this is just what a coach wants to evaluate her team and where they stand in close, late game situations. It didn’t work out this time for the Warriors but they gained an invaluable experience.

“We never quit, we were down a couple times,” Coach O’Connell said when asked what this game did to reveal the makeup of the team. “They fought back and kept their heads right and just never quit.”

The Warriors will be back in action on Wednesday as they host Stoneham at 7 p.m.

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Arlington 43, WAKEFIELD 41 (OT)

At Charbonneau Field House

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Arlington (43) — Ammondson 3 2 9; Defeo 4 4 12; Caulo 2 3 7; Flinn 5 0 12; Brush 0 0 0; Demaree 1 0 2; Ewen 0 1 1. Totals 15 10 43.

WAKEFIELD (41) — H.Butler 0 0 0; Joly 2 0 4; Hurley 5 4 14; Joyce 0 0 0; Coggswell 1 0 2; Lovell 1 0 2; O.Dziadyk 4 1 9; E.Butler 1 0 2; Purcell 4 0 8; H.Dziadyk 0 0 0. Totals 18 5 41.

Score by Quarters — Arlington 7-5-14-11-6— 43. WAKEFIELD 6-10-13-8-4 — 41.

Three-point FGs — Arl, Flinn 2, Ammondson 1. Wak, None.