By Max Clifford
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Walpole High School Varsity Girls’ Basketball brought home a victory from their road trip to Framingham on Friday night. The team’s leading scorer Bella Bingham poured in a career-high 31 points to help the Timberwolves hold off a late comeback attempt in the 52-40 win.
Walpole brought a height advantage with them to Framingham and flexed it early and often. Caitlin Boisvert scored the first four points of the game and kept the Flyers out of the hoop in the post. Izzy Adams posted three points the hard way with three minutes to play in the first, scoring a transition basket and converting a free throw for a 13-9 lead.
Despite being limited in the paint, Framingham found a way to chip away at the deficit. Strong defense and transition offense went hand in hand for the Flyers, who finished the quarter on a 5-0 run to take their first lead of the contest.
Any fatigue the Timberwolves felt at the end of the first quarter stayed on the sideline in the second. Sparkplugged by three quick buckets from Bingham, Walpole opened the quarter on a 14-0 run, flipping a one-point deficit into a 13-point advantage with three minutes to play.
Walpole took a 29-20 lead into the halftime break, thanks in no small part to Bingham’s 18 points. When asked about his leading scorer postgame, head coach Dave Wall had high praise. “She’s honestly one of the better athletes I’ve coached,” he said. “When she’s playing fast and going downhill like you saw today… she’s a talented kid.”
Three more quick scores from Bingham set the tone for a big third quarter. At the end of three the Timberwolves held a comfortable 40-27 advantage over the Flyers.
Late in the fourth quarter, Framingham tightened the screws on their guests, knocking down three straight triples to cut an 18 point gap down to nine with under a minute to play. If anyone in the gym was surprised by the late run from the Flyers, Wall was not among them. “A team like that, they’re not going to quit and they’re talented. They hit some shots,” he said after the game.
Walpole withstood the late spark from Framingham, holding on for a 52-40 victory. When asked about what the victory means to his team after a 1-3 stretch, Wall emphasized the importance of learning from early tests. “You never plan on having a 1-3 stretch… but we got better from it,” he said. “We’re coming into league play with [Framingham] being great and a bunch of team’s in our league being good. We schedule those games early against good teams to figure out what we’re good at and what we’re not good at.”
