By MICHAELA LYONS
WAKEFIELD — Last Friday, the Charbonneau Field House at Wakefield Memorial High School was packed with exciting fans itching to see WMHS’s boys and girls basketball teams face Burlington, a tough competition in the Middlesex League. While the boys fell short in the fourth quarter, the girls had an unbelievable and momentous game. Even though the game was back-and-forth the entire time, the Warriors fought hard throughout four quarters, beating Burlington 40-33.
This was Jason Pavey’s 100th career victory as a head coach, all with the Warriors so it was a memorable night.
“The 100 wins is really more about the players and coaches who’ve gone through this program,” said Pavey. “I’ve been super lucky to have really good players over the years. They are the ones who win games. It’s really a credit to them, so it was nice to take a minute and reflect on those kids and games. And the coaches; they work really hard, we collaborate all the time so it’s a collective accomplishment.
“The last thing I’ll say is I’m proud every single win was as the Wakefield coach. Nowhere else.”
In the first quarter, the Warriors faced some adversity when Burlington continued to hit 3-pointers. However, although Emma Ickes is only a junior, she showed great leadership on the court by communicating with the team and driving to the basket for layups.
Ickes (15 pts, 7 reb) set the tone for the underclassmen, like freshman Vanessa Tringali who had a huge breakaway at the end of the quarter in which Burlington fouled, giving her two foul shots. Tringali made both with ease like a seasoned veteran, putting Wakefield up 9-8 at the end of the 1st quarter.
Although Wakefield had a great all-around opening quarter, Burlington was not slowing down or losing any hope. Moving the ball swiftly and smoothly down the court, Burlington continued on their 3-point path which gave them a huge lead, 21-13 at the end of the first half.
Despite the situation at hand, the Warriors did not lose their focus. They came out of the locker room reset and ready to go for the second half.
Ickes had another great move for a layup, regaining momentum for the home team and tightening the gap of the Red Devils’ lead.
Senior captain Shea Suntken also made 2 foul shots on her way to 9 points in the quarter. Ickes tied it at 21 with 4:38 left in the third and Suntken (9 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast) grabbed an offensive rebound and put it in to give the Warriors the lead for good.
Wakefield kept it going for the remainder of the third, taking a 31-26 lead after three.
This rally continued in the fourth quarter when Wakefield exhausted Burlington’s talented team and took the victory 40-33.
The Warriors had some challenges throughout the game, but they still managed to add another win to their record which now stands at 5-2.
Overall, Pavey was proud of how his team stuck with it.
“I thought we showed a lot of resiliency,” said the coach. “The first half did not go how we wanted. Part of that was that Burlington plays really hard and the other part is we were missing shots we normally hit. That was the message at halftime: ‘We’re getting good looks, don’t let whether it goes in or not impact how you play defense and rebound.’
“We came out in the second half and responded. Shea, Jade (Waterhouse), Brooklyn (Calder), Emma and Kiera (O’Brien) really got after it on the defensive end and we started to build up some confidence offensively. Once we got the lead, we were able to hang out because we have veterans who know how to close out games.
“I’m hoping we can use that second half to build some momentum going forward.”
It may be early in the season but with solid veterans and talented freshmen, it seems as if the Wakefield girls’ basketball team will go far this year. They are definitely an exciting team to watch.
The Warriors will travel to Winchester (0-9) tonight at 6 p.m. That will be their first of three games this week as they welcome non-league Tewksbury (4-4) to the Charbonneau Field House on Thursday at 5 p.m. before traveling to Watertown (5-3) for a key Freedom Division matchup on Friday night at 7 p.m.