By Max Clifford
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Expectations are high for Walpole High School’s Varsity Girls’ Basketball team as they prepare for the state tournament. The second overall seed in the MIAA Division II bracket, the Timberwolves got a valuable tuneup against neighboring Foxborough in preparation of their hopeful tournament run.
The Warriors, who have lost just two games all year and hold the number one overall seed in the Division III bracket, are a tough opponent for any team to face. Walpole head coach Dave Wall welcomed the challenge for his team as they prepare for the postseason.
“Playing them, you know what you’re going to get. They’re fast and athletic. You can’t be lazy,” he said. “For what it’s worth, we got what we needed out of it… There’s a reason they’re the best team in the state. They’re legit.”
Wall used the opportunity to test his bench ahead of the state tournament. Izzy Adams and Bella Binham contribute the vast majority of the Timberwolves’ points on offense. He expressed the need for the rest of his rotation to pick up the slack if his top scorers get into foul trouble.
“We are very reliant on Izzy and Bella to score,” he said. “If they’re off the court we have to do something different than we normally do so that was the point of that.” He added, “Now in a perfect world, they’ll never not be on the court.”
As he prepares his team for the tournament, Wall will look for his players to work on their ball handling and positioning on the court. He says that the most important thing is for his players to be confident in where they need to be and when.
“We kind of resorted back to beginning of the year stuff where we didn’t have confidence,” he said. “That was what we fought for a long time this year. In the last month or so we’ve been playing more free, loose, and confidence.”
As the second seeded team in the Division II bracket, the Timberwolves will have home court advantage through the final four, should they make it that far. They will host the winner of a preliminary round matchup between Ursuline Academy and Archbishop Williams at Walpole High School on Thursday evening.
