By Paul Vozzella
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
Dedham may have been better off staying at home on Tuesday night, as the Warriors pushed their win streak to six with a 75-14 win, moving their overall record to 9-1.
Medfield came out of the gates firing, starting on a 14 to three run and hitting their first four three-point attempts. The shooting barrage continued throughout the whole game, finishing 17-for-28 from behind the arc, with sophomore Naya Annigeri going a perfect seven out of seven from deep.
“We put a lot of work in at practice and get a bunch of shots up, so I think that’s big,” said Annigeri. “It shows in our games… We were driving and kicking a bunch. We would draw two to three defenders. It’s more of finding the open person when we’re knocking down shots.”
Head coach Mark Nickerson praised not only Annigeri’s performance, but the team’s production as a whole: “We haven’t shot like that all season. Truth of the matter is, we’re capable of shooting like that but we haven’t shot well for most of the year… Our whole starting five and pretty much everyone that comes off the bench can knock down threes, so that makes us tough.”
Other contributions came from senior Jailen Annigeri who had 11 points, while junior Izzy Kittredge and freshman Abby Broderick each added 10 points.
It wasn’t a dominant performance on just the offensive end. Their suffocating defense forced a whopping twenty steals! They also had two blocks and a lot more defensive possessions that resulted in arrant throws out-of-bounds.
The reason behind their success all circles back to putting in the work at practice. It’s a message that was consistent between player and coach. “We practice pressuring the ball a lot…” said Annigeri. “jumping passing lanes, and anticipating passes, and we did that well today.”
“I was pleased with our early full-court pressure but, to be honest, we create a lot of turnovers out of our two-three zone, which we’ve been working on a lot,” echoed Nickerson. “The girls are doing a nice job grasping the concept of taking away the passing lanes and forcing tough passes.”
Even with a 47 to 6 lead at the beginning of the second half, the Warriors’ starters took the court and stayed aggressive, recording a steal on the first possession of the third quarter. They also hit their first three three-point attempts. With the game already in hand, Nickerson put in his bench players for the rest of the lopsided affair.
“The minutes for players coming off the bench are huge,” said the coach. “They work really hard in practice; I love giving them the minutes, but it’s great to see them go out and perform well. It’s a good confidence builder for them.”
Nickerson went on to say he fully believes in his teams’ abilities, telling them that they are capable of repeating the night’s performance on a regular basis. The girls travel to Medway on Friday, January 31.
