WILMINGTON — The Wakefield High girls’ basketball team bounced back from a close, 41-39 loss to Lexington on Tuesday night with a 46-40 road win over Wilmington on Friday night, improving to 8-3 on the season and 7-3 in Middlesex League play.
The Warriors overcame multiple deficits, trailing 10-7 after one quarter and 33-32 after three. Wakefield outscored Wilmington 14-7 in the final quarter to seal another victory.
Senior captain Savannah Cummings (13 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast, 6 blk) scored 6 points in the 4th with her lights-out, mid-range game helping the Warriors pull away.
A steal and layup by senior captain Emma Quinn (11 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl) started the final frame, reclaiming the lead for good. Quinn’s triple from the corner with just over a minute left ended it, extending the advantage to seven.
Cummings’ six points from the mid-range were three consecutive field goals for the visitors in the 4th all while the defense played their best of the game.
Sophomore Emma Ickes (12 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl) had a nice drive and finish to make it 43-35 and Cumming’s 6th block of the game put an exclamation mark on a strong win.
Wakefield also got a great, two-way game out of junior Brooklyn Calder (8 pts, 9 reb, 3 stl) who was efficient and unselfish on offense and very active defensively, deflecting multiple passes and setting the tone on the perimeter while Cummings protected the rim.
Wakefield’s strong 4th quarter was a duplicate of their previous game against Lexington at the Charbonneau Field House. With the visitors up 35-27 after three, Wakefield stormed back, eventually cutting the lead to 40-39. A Lexington free throw made it 41-39 and a buzzer-beater 3 attempt to win it from junior Aliza Margolis on the run was in line but hit the back of the rim and bounced out.
Quinn led the offense with 17 points in that one. She was especially impressive in getting to the hoop, staying aggressive throughout, including the final quarter in which she had 8 points.
The two teams were even through one but Lexington stepped it up in the second quarter, taking a 24-17 lead into halftime.
In a game that featured strong defense from both teams, the Warriors couldn’t really get it going on offense but Quinn, Margolis (7 pts, 5 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Cummings (6 pts, 3 reb) and Calder (5 pts, 2 reb, 6 ast, 2 stl) did enough to keep Wakefield in it.
In the 4th, another strong Quinn drive resulted in a layup to make it 35-29. Calder, who ran the show well from the top of the key against Lexington’s zone in the 4th, later found a cutting Quinn to make it 35-32.
Two Quinn free throws and another Quinn bucket officially put the pressure on as Lexington held on to a 38-36 advantage.
Calder hit a corner 3 to later make it 40-39 but that’s as close as the Warriors would get, fouling multiple times to get in the bonus and nearly creating a huge turnover with a five-second call but coming up just short.
Wakefield was ranked No. 5 in the latest Div. 2 MIAA power rankings that were published before their victory over Wilmington on Friday night.
The Warriors will travel to Melrose (1-11, 0-10) tomorrow night at 7 p.m. and South High Community School in Worcester on Wednesday night at 6 p.m.
