Girls’ hoop (11-2) hosts Burlington tomorrow night
Published in the February 1, 2018 edition.
By DAN BYRNE
WAKEFIELD—Having started out the season a perfect 10-0, the Wakefield Memorial High School girls’ varsity basketball team was in new
ALLEE PURCELL takes it to the rim against Belmont on Tuesday night. Purcell scored 10 tough points against the Marauders’ tall and athletic front line. (Donna Larsson Photo)
territory on Tuesday, as they entered their game against Belmont having lost their previous game to Woburn.
The Warriors returned home to face one of the leagues’ best teams with Belmont coming to town. Head coach Jason Pavey knew it was going to be a tough matchup for the Warriors, as they looked to get back into the win column.
“Their length gave us a problem, especially in the first half,” Pavey said after the game.
Wakefield started out in a 5-0 hole with Belmont jumping out ahead early. The Warriors clamped down defensively and held Belmont’s shooters at bay before they made a run to close the gap. Allee Purcell led the way in the first quarter with 5 points. Hailey Lovell added a basket for 2 of her 4 points on the night. With the Warriors down four, Hannah Dziadyk’s hustle earned the next Warriors basket to cut Belmont’s lead down to two, prompting a timeout from the visiting sideline late in the first quarter.
The Marauders were tough on the offensive glass all night long, and that started in the first quarter following the timeout. Belmont had an obvious focus on the 3-point shot, and when they came back out to the floor, they started to let it fly from deep. After two missed three’s and a pair of offensive rebounds, the Marauders were able to connect on their third try of the possession from downtown.
“Honestly on the defensive end, we were pretty good about getting the initial stops, but they killed us on the offensive boards,” said Pavey. “I think they scored 16 points from the free-throw line, almost all of them were on 2nd-chance opportunities.”
Wakefield trailed 14-9 heading into the 2nd quarter, but the Warriors cut the deficit by being the better team in the 2nd quarter. Ally Coggswell had 5 of her 11 points in the 2nd quarter, while Olivia Dziadyk added 5 of her team high 12 points. Allee Purcell and Hannah Dziadyk also chipped in on the offensive end for Wakefield in the 2nd quarter, as the Warriors cut the lead to one point at halftime, 24-23.
The Warriors just couldn’t find their groove offensively in the 3rd quarter as 4 points from Olivia Dziadyk and 2 points from Hailey Lovell accounted for the six 3rd quarter points for the Warriors.
“Give them credit,” coach Pavey said. “Their energy level in the 2nd half was better than what we did. I thought we came out flat in the 2nd half, and that’s on me trying motivate them or we didn’t make the changes that we needed to.”
Belmont extended their lead to 11 with a 16-point effort in the 3rd quarter. Down 40-29 heading into the 4th, Wakefield needed to make a big run if they were going to come out on top.
“I give them credit for making the changes that they needed to, and also upping their energy level in the 2nd half,” Pavey said, “Those girls were tough the first four minutes of the 3rd quarter.”
Wakefield scored 13 points in the 4th quarter, but were left without one of their main offensive threats when Hannah Dziadyk picked up her 5th foul with 5:15 to play.
Early in the 4th, Wakefield had the lead down to 7 at 40-33, but having to play the final 5 minutes without one of their best players made things difficult for the Warriors.
“Those girls are no joke. They’re legit, they’re obviously very well coached, they play really well on the offensive end, they don’t turn the ball over, and it seemed like every shot they took was a good look,” said Pavey.
Belmont went on a run led by an 11 point outburst by freshman Maiya Bergdorf. Prior to her 4th quarter run to put away the Warriors, Bergdorf had just 3 points in the game.
It was a disappointing outcome, as the Marauders were able to extend their lead and take the win by a big margin at 59-42.
For his final thoughts on Belmont, Pavey said, “The silver lining of playing Woburn and Belmont, the two best teams in our league back-to-back, that’s competition at the highest level in this league. I think even regardless of the score, there were pockets where we got better and individual players got better.”
“I thought coming off the bench, Hannah Butler and Jaime Greatorex were awesome tonight for the role that they’re asked to play for us,” Pavey pointed out.
The Warriors will look to get things going again on Friday as they host Burlington. The Warriors were able to come out on top in the first meeting on opening night, and look to get another win at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Turning to Friday the coach said, “We’re looking forward to seeing those guys as we flip back to the Small.”
