By Avonlea Cummings
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
The gymnasium was packed Friday, March 1st at Medfield High School, as many fans gathered to cheer on the number one-seeded MedBall team and the sixth-seeded Big Blue team as they hosted a double-header in their first round of playoffs. MedBall defeated the 32nd-seeded Westborough Rangers, closing the night with the final score of 68-50. Big Blue polished off the 38th-seed Worcester Tech team, finishing the night off with a score of 73-52.
MedBall jumpstarted the evening’s competition against Westborough; it was a low-scoring first period for the MedBall girls as Westborough charged onto the court with fire under their feet. Westborough was quick to respond to Medfield’s offense, only allowing MedBall 17 points to close the first next to their 12 points. Into the second quarter, both teams fought; Medfield was hoping to continue their lead. Soon enough, the time clock dwindled, and MedBall walked away from the court leading by 15 points, 35-20.
After a narrow lead in the first two quarters of the game, the MedBall girls shook off the first-playoff game jitters and controlled the second half of the evening. Redirecting their press, and trying out new attempts to lengthen their lead, the girls began to dominate their half-court play. Annie Stanton, Tess Baacke, Naya Annigeri, and others continued to drill to the net, looking to put in their layups. Westborough attempted to challenge the MedBall girls, looking to break away with their speed once again, but MedBall denied many of their chances. MedBall finished the game on top 68-50. Tess Baacke led the team with 19 individual points for MedBall’s final score. Alongside Baacke, Annie Stanton and Naya Annigeri each added 15 points to the tally, and Izzy Kittredge showcased her skills on the court as well marking up 10 points of her own.
Head coach Mark Nickerson shared a bit on the beginning of the game and how the girls improved into the second half. “I think it was nerves at the beginning of the game, which is odd because a majority of the players were starters last year. They know what it was like; we had gone to the final four last year, so I thought we would come out better than what we did. Certainly, to Westborough’s credit, they took advantage of it and they played hard, knocking down shots and causing a bit of corruption in our offensive game plan,” said Nickerson.
“We played half-court defensively the first few possessions of the third quarter, and they (Westborough) slowed down and had trouble moving the ball. We got a couple of turnovers and got the game at a more controllable pace for us, which I think was good. I thought we executed some good offensive plays early on in the second half; we had some wide-open layups, and we ran a few plays that worked that I was really happy with. We were able to execute half-court plays in crunch time, which is really important; we have been working on that a lot in practice, so it was nice to see that play out,” said Nickerson.
Right after the MedBall team’s celebratory win, the night was not over yet. It was then time for the Big Blue boys to head onto the court for the second game of the evening. Coming off from ten gameless days, Big Blue settled back into the groove of the game's first quarter, snagging an 18-7 point lead. Medfield began racking up points in the second quarter as senior captain Luke Lisciandra propelled 12 points into the net for the quarter. The Big Blue guys were electric, feeding off the fans’ energy, tallying up 23 points to close the half 41-20.
After the hefty lead from the first half, the guys continued to coast along the second half, denying Worcester Tech any chances of hoping to take back leadership of the scoreboard. Lisciandra cashed in 28 individual points for the Big Blue team, and following his lead was sophomore Peter Kumar who knocked in 17 points himself. Big Blue wrapped up the game 73-52 and will be moving on to the next round of playoffs.
Head coach Herb Grace shared his thoughts on the guys’ performance, and how he hopes this will help boost the team’s confidence as they advance to the next round of the post-season. “I mean we hadn’t had a game in about ten days, so we went out a bit rusty; we started with the defense. I was telling the guys to just focus on our defense, and the offense would come. We had some good stops to get the game started, the offense came, and they got some good shots. It’s great to advance and move on… It’s nice to have the experience and play at home in front of a great crowd, and I’m really happy with how we played the last few weeks, and hopefully, next game our confidence will be even better,” said Grace.
