By Ellie Smith
Features Editor
On December 19th, girls’ basketball fell to Wachusett in a difficult game. WA played hard, but were ultimately defeated with a final score of 39-64.
Wachusett dominated the first few minutes of the game and WA did not score until the last two and a half minutes of the first quarter when freshman Emily Bramanti made two foul shots to make the score 2-13. With two minutes left in the first quarter, sophomore Julia Libby made a basket to make the score 4-18.
WA did not score again until there were two minutes remaining in the second quarter when sophomore Angela Alibrandi made both of her foul shots to make the score 6-27. Sophomore Amanda Smith then scored on six foul shots after being fouled three times in the last two minutes of the quarter. The score at the end of the second quarter was 11-32.
WA began to show signs of improvement during the second half as they took and made more shots than in the first half.
Early in the third quarter, Freshmen Allison Mulhern and Bramanti both scored three point shots to bring the score to 17-39. Multiple shots from junior McKenna Doremus and Alibrandi resulted in a score of 25-51 at the end of the third quarter.
Three three-pointers, two by senior Morgan Ross and one by senior Jess Libby, increased the score to 34-55. Doremus got her fifth foul and was forced to leave the game with 3 minutes left in the final quarter.
With two minutes left in the game, Ross made a basket to bring the score to 36-61. To end the game, junior Erin Dougherty made a three point shot with 10 seconds left in the game to make the final score 39-64.
Coach Russ Coward predicted Wachusett to be a difficult team to beat, but feels the team put in their best effort.
“The game went as expected. Wachusett is a veteran team, we are very inexperienced, and I think our inexperience showed tonight. We played with effort and heart, which isnt surprising, but obviously we need to play better,” said Coward. “We need to box out on defense and make sure to stop the other team’s fast break.”
“We were all a bit nervous and for a lot of the team, it was their first varsity game. They were a very good team…strong and a little more experienced than us,” said Desrochers. “I think we played alright on defense, but some of our shots just weren’t falling tonight…but that will come.”
Doremus also felt the team played decent overall, but knows they will continue to improve in the future.
“I think tonight’s game went well, despite the score our inexperience we definitely brought our ‘A’ game,” said Doremus. “Our defense and toughest are there, we just have to take one game at a time.”
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