By Avonlea Cummings
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
On Friday, January 19th the Needham gymnasium was packed with fans supporting the Needham girls’ basketball as they hosted the Natick Redhawks for a thrilling competition. In honor of the Metrowest girls' basketball team in Needham, the Rockets displayed photos around the gymnasium of photos of themselves as young basketball players on their Metrowest team, showcasing that chasing dreams do come true Their aim was to inspire all the young girls who came to watch the Rockets play. It was the perfect night to do so as the Rockets continued their winning streak and defeated the Redhawks 53-38.
In the first half, the Needham girls took control over the court playing outstanding, taking shots left and right of the net, the Rockets challenged Natick right away. The crowd cheered as they knew they were in for an exciting competition. Natick tried to step up to face the Rockets' skills but Needham blew past taking a strong lead in the half 46-26.
Once the time clock began and the second half went underway, the Needham girls stayed fiery on the court feeding off the energy of the crowd. Needham’s Eva Andrews was on fire throughout the evening making five powerful blocks stopping Natick right in their tracks, and snagging the ball away from their possession. Alongside blocks, Andrews had 10 rebounds and six points to tally up for Needham throughout the game. Callie McCarthy has 13 points for the Rockets, and 8 rebounds, and Hannah Levine snagged a total of 14 points for Needham to soar with to polish up the evening’s competition with a final score of 53-38.
Head coach Hannah Carroll shared how the team was best preparing for the match, and what she thought the girls executed well. She mentioned Andrew's successful blocks as well.“We are a very high shooting team, we were really focusing on putting on offensive pressure, making sure we were being physical and aggressive making sure we were attacking the hoop, not just driving around. I’d say we always focus on our defense but we knew that Natick out re-bounded Weymouth, we knew we had to be aggressive. Eva Andrews came out big today, she had huge blocks, overall she was strong on the defensive end, and she's been coming out getting more rebounds, and that’s what we have been asking from her,” said Carroll.
Head coach Carroll also spoke on Metrowest night: “There is an ad campaign that is ‘if you can see her, you can be her’ and I think this is 100 percent what this is for them. They see these girls, and we have a bunch of photos of the girls we have on our team now, from their Metrowest days. It shows the progress from where they started and where they can end up, and where they can go from there. It’s great having also those kids in the program and watching what goes on right now because they are going to be here (on the team) someday hopefully, and it’s a community aspect of it,” said Carroll.
The Rockets will travel to Wellesley High on Friday, January 26th, tip-off will be at 6:30 PM.
