By Max Clifford
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Walpole High School’s Izzy Adams scored her 1,000th point for the girls’ varsity basketball team last Wednesday night, an especially rare accomplishment for a junior like herself. That individual milestone was just a scene in the larger script of Walpole’s dominant 61-37 victory over Archbishop Williams in the first round of the MIAA Division II state tournament. As the second-overall seed in the Division II bracket, Walpole had been granted a bye through the preliminary play-in round. The 10 days without game action since their final regular season contest did not seem to affect the Timberwolves in the early goings. With just under two minutes to play in the first quarter, Adams knocked down a three to stretch the hosts’ lead to 15-4 and
pull herself within six points of 1,000.
Despite the early deficit, Archbishop Williams did not go quietly in the first. Eighth-grader Alana Mcnamara hit a pair of free throws and a layup in the low post to get the Bishops’ offense started. After the defense forced Adams to commit an over-and-back violation, Mcnamara beat the buzzer from the midrange to finish off a stretch in which she outscored the Timberwolves 6-2, cutting the Walpole lead to 17-10.
In the second quarter, the Bishops continued to storm back, cutting the Walpole lead to 21-18 with under two minutes remaining. The Timberwolves got a late spark from Lauren Ofgant, who knocked down an outside shot to give them a bit of breathing room, up 24-18 at the halftime break.
After a rare scoreless quarter in the second, Adams went back to work after the halftime break. Euro-stepping her way through traffic, she brought her career scoring total to 997 points with just over three minutes to play in the frame.
Inside of two minutes to play, Adams saw a rare gap in the Bishops defense and banked in her most important three-pointer of the night. The young fans using a poster to keep track of her scoring ripped the final three sheets of paper off to reveal a ‘1,000’ for her milestone accomplishment.
When asked after the game if she felt a sense of relief about reaching the scoring mark, Adams, who considers herself a passer first, said “Yes, thank God! I was worried about it but right after that I played a whole different game.”
While the Timberwolves’ offensive approach changed after the milestone bucket, their focus on the goal did not. Adams’ 1,000th point put Walpole up by 15 points and was stretched to 49-29 by the end of the third.
Closing out Archbishop Williams by a final tally of 61-37 earned the Timberwolves an appointment with 15th-seeded Reading Memorial with an opportunity to advance to the quarterfinals on the line. That game was played on Tuesday night in Walpole.
