By Paul Vozzella
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
The Rockets took to their home floor against Wellesley on the night of Tuesday, January 14, but the competition was absent. Needham cruised to a 62-25 win over the Raiders, rising to 6-4 on the season.
In a dominant performance on both ends of the court, Needham started on an 11-0 run and finished the quarter up 22-1. Their full-court press defense overwhelmed and the three-point shooting buried Wellesley early.
“I think we really emphasized a lot on - after our game against Newton North, we had 12 turnovers - so, we were really emphasizing playing with composure, setting things up, taking care of the ball and finding the best shot possible,” said head coach Hannah Carroll. “That showed right in the first quarter; we had six assists on shots… We definitely like to push up the tempo a little bit [with press defense]. It gets us going into our offense, too.”
On the defensive end, several key turnovers helped surge the run, eventually leading to a 29-5 lead at halftime. The Rockets only conceded one made field goal with three of Wellesley’s points coming from free throws.
Coming out of the second half, the Raiders tried giving the Rockets a taste of their own medicine by playing press defense themselves. The switch seemed to even out the playing field with the third quarter starting 9-7 in favor of the Rockets, but that wouldn’t last for long.
“We definitely got a little flustered with it,” claimed Carroll. “I think [we] were expecting it… But we adjusted. We got used to it.”
Although the team was short-staffed due to injuries and limited to a ten player rotation, their efforts did not diminish. They finished the third quarter up 51-17 much in due to forward Eva Andrews who secured a double-double by the end of the period.
“The team is so awesome,” said Andrews. “I feel like anyone, on any given night, can step up. I think tonight was collectively a really good performance.”
Andrews finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Other key contributors included guard Annie Camozzi (10 points and six rebounds), guard Hannah Levine (10 points and three assists) and guard Callie McCarthy (seven points and six assists).
The team now shifts focus to a familiar foe – Bishop Feehan. Needham suffered a 64-53 loss earlier this month to the 8-1 opponent, but they are full of confidence heading into the rematch.
“We’re pretty amped up knowing we could keep up with them,” said Carroll. “Now that we know we can do that, it’s just turning the score around and making sure we’re on the other side of it.”
“It’s going to take a lot of preparation,” added Andrews. “We’re going to really have to work hard in practice this week [and] push each other. We’re gonna be away so it’s definitely gonna be hard not playing on our home court, but we just have to work hard – like we did tonight – on both ends of the floor.”
