Host 9-2 Winchester tonight at 6 p.m.
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
BELMONT — The WMHS girls’ basketball team led wire-to-wire on the road against Belmont Tuesday night on their way to a 59-36 victory and a 9-2 overall record.
The Warriors had a balanced scoring attack, led by three captains: junior Emma Shinney (14 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast), senior Sophie Brown (13 pts, 8 reb, 2 ast) and senior Ashlee Purcell (13 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 6 stl).
Freshman Aliza Margolis added 6 points and senior captain Hannah Hill (3), sophomore Emma Quinn (3), junior Mia Forti (3), sophomore Savannah Cummings (2) and freshman Shea Suntken (2) all chipped in as nine Warriors made a bucket in this one.
Wakefield scored in a multitude of ways: in transition, through half court sets and out-of-bounds plays. They hit 5 3-pointers and tallied 15 assists.
And yet, as always with the 2021-22 Wakefield High girls’ hoop team, the game was won with defense. Broken down into quarters, the Marauders only hit double digits in one, 12 points in the 2nd frame. They only scored 6 in the 1st, 8 in the 3rd and 7 in the 4th. It was the 9th game that Wakefield held their opponent to under 40 points.
The Warriors pressed, forced turnovers and rebounded well, led by Brown, Shinney, Purcell, freshman Brooklyn Calder (4 reb) and Forti (3 reb).
All told, they put together one of their best all-around team games of the season.
Wakefield led 18-6 after the first quarter, getting 9 points from Purcell and 5 from Shinney including a 3-pointer to open the scoring. That came off a Purcell dish. Shinney returned the favor on a kick out to the corner which Purcell hit from long range for an 8-2 lead early. A Shinney bounce pass to Brown made it 12-4 and Shinney later went down the middle for a layup to make it 18-6.
The 2nd quarter was an even 12-12 but the Warriors continued to play their style of basketball, something that carried over into the 3rd as the defense locked up the home team once again.
Purcell had a nice feed to Brown in mid-air for a layup to make it 32-18 and Forti knocked down a triple off a Brown assist for a 35-18 lead.
As Belmont turned to a zone defense, head coach Jason Pavey had his team ready for it, placing Brown at the free throw line extended to make plays for her teammates and battle for second chances.
Shinney got one of those chances on an offensive rebound, drive and finish through contact for an and-one to push the lead to 39-26. The Warriors all but sealed this one when Shinney hit a baseline 3 off a Forti pass and Purcell stole the ensuing in-bounds pass thanks to a full court press as the visitors went up 43-26 after three.
Wakefield stayed locked in through the final quarter which they won by a count of 16-7, once again their defense leading the charge.
The Warriors host a strong Winchester team with an identical 9-2 record tonight, 6 p.m. at the Charbonneau Field House.
