By Meghan Foley
On Friday, January 30th, varsity girls’ basketball played the Newton North Tigers for the second time this season after falling to them 40–52 back in December. Entering this game, the Raiders had a record of 3–8 to the Tigers’ 5–8.
When the second half began, the Raiders were down 22–34, but they closed steadily in on the Tigers throughout the third quarter, made even more exciting by both teams having vocal and energetic benches cheering on their teammates as the score rocked back and forth. After Captain Maria Gianarikas drained her third three-pointer of the quarter and brought the score to 35–36, Newton North had to call a time-out. Eloise Haverkamp and Penny Casgar both made good rebounds while Captain Lily Andrews regained possession for Wellesley by making a steal in the offensive end. By the time the third quarter ended, the Raiders were in the lead, 40–38.
The teams were neck and neck for the entirety of the fourth quarter. The Tigers began by tying the score at 40–40 before Haverkamp pushed the Raiders up to 42. Then Newton North hit a three for a one-point lead, then increased it to four with another. Haverkamp made a shot while being fouled and made the extra point as well, again putting Wellesley just one point behind, before a Tiger did the same. Up 49–45, the Tigers kept climbing with two successful foul shots, but Haverkamp matched that and did the same. A three-pointer by Andrews brought the Raiders back to a potentially one-basket deficit at 50–53 with 2:30 left in the game. The Tigers crept forward with one point, but Gianarikas brought Wellesley up by three with a two-pointer and the foul shot she was given after being fouled on the original shot. With 1:29 left in the game, five fouls for each team, and a score of 53–54, the coaches of both teams were using all of their time-outs.
Andrews did a great job staying straight-up on defense, preventing another Tigers’ basket without fouling her, while she and Hathaway Bishop also made a good rebound together on another play. The final minute and a half of the game was long with coaches frequently calling time-outs, but with 18.3 seconds left on the scoreboard, Newton North unfortunately made a foul shot, bringing the score to 53–55. Haverkamp fought hard for a rebound in the final seconds and Gianarikas took one last shot as time ran out, but it didn’t work out in the Raiders’ favor. Still, it was an incredibly exciting and well-fought fourth quarter resulting from a well-played game by both teams and could have gone either way with how back and forth the score had been.
The Raiders’ next game will be at home on Friday at 6:30 to play the Framingham Flyers (1–13). Then on Tuesday the 10th, the Raiders will be back home to face Natick High School (11–3) at 6:45 for a rematch after falling to them 41–77 a few weeks ago. On Thursday the 12th, they will be at Framingham High School to take on the Flyers again at 6:30. The Raiders’ full schedule can be found at: www.arbiterlive.com.
