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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Winter athletic season is here, and the Needham High girls varsity basketball team enters 2016-2017 with solid mix of senior leadership as well as youth to build upon for the future.
Kara Petronio, Kathryn Charter, and Annie Rotman will captain the ship for the Rockets in 2016-2017. Each of the three seniors holds multiples years of experience within the program and will be essential pieces to the team’s game plans in both areas of the court.
Along with senior captain and strong forward Kara Petronio, Needham head coach Amanda Sheehy expects sophomore point guard Marianna Jantzen to also step up and play a key role for the Rockets this season.
“Marianna and Kara (Petronio) make a great pair and it’ll be fun to watch them work with one another,” said Sheehy. “They both will play really key roles in our offense and have the capability of becoming really strong forces within this league. We’re expecting them both to really step up for us this year and we’re confident that they will give us the production that we need.”
While the Lady Rockets may be young, Sheehy expects her squad to play a stout game in both ends of the court and to out work their opponents with their speed.
“We have a very young team this year. We have six sophomores and one freshman on the varsity squad. We are young and athletic,” said Sheehy. “I expect us to be a running team offensively, but we will rely heavily on our defense. Our defense is what is going to win us games. We work really hard, and I think that is what’s going to set us apart from our opponents.”
The Needham girls will begin their season on December 13 in a non-conference matchup on the road at Westwood.
