Get ready to host Longmeadow in first round matchup tomorrow night
By DAN BYRNE
WAKEFIELD — On Feb. 20, the Wakefield Memorial High School girls’ varsity Basketball team hosted Saugus on Senior Night.
Though the Sachems hung with Wakefield in the first quarter, by the end of the game, they proved to be no match for the Warriors as the home team cruised to a 57-30 victory.
“Senior night is a big night, emotions run high sometimes that leads to getting distracted, so I thought we did a really good job of just focusing on the game,” said head coach Jason Pavey.
The win put the team one step closer to securing a home game in the state tournament.
Senior Captain Emma Quinn had 7 of her 17 points in the first quarter.
After the first quarter, sophomore Emma Ickes came in off the bench and took over scoring 18 of her game high 20 points after the first quarter.
“I think we played really well in the middle quarters, pushing the pace,” Pavey said. “Emma Ickes and Brooklyn Calder were awesome tonight on both ends of the floor. We really dug in defensively,”
Wakefield played sound defensively and never allowed Saugus to feel comfortable with possession, as the Warriors’ defense applied smothering pressure on the ball the entire game.
Wakefield’s defense allowed Saugus just 2 points in the 2nd quarter and only 18 points in the third and fourth quarters combined.
“The message going into this was the best way to honor our seniors is to play really hard and get a win. They’re going to remember the result of the game better than anything else about senior night,” the coach said. “We talked about just trying to stay connected defensively. I thought in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, our rotations were a lot more crisp.”
Wakefield’s final game of the regular season was held on Thursday Feb. 22 when they hosted Wilmington.
“We’re trying to win the league outright, that’s another box we want to check,” said Pavey. “It’s another goal they set for themselves at the beginning of the year.”
The Warriors reached that goal with a 56-44 win over the Wildcats to finish at 15-5 overall and 12-4 in the league, claiming sole possession of the Freedom Division title for the third consecutive season.
Wakefield earned the No. 11 seed in the Div. 2 bracket will host No. 22 Longmeadow (11-9) for a first round game tomorrow night, 6 p.m. at the Charbonneau Field House.
The Warriors were initially scheduled to play on Thursday but due to an error in the boys’ basketball bracket, the school will now need to host two tournament games and will do so as a doubleheader tomorrow night with the girls at 6 p.m. followed by the boys’ prelim game against Bay Path RVT at 7:30 p.m.