4-3 Melrose earning Freedom wins
Published January 10, 2020
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose Lady Raider basketball team is enjoying a winning 4-3 record after the holiday break, which included a must-win 52-43 league victory over rival Wakefield at home on Friday Jan. 3 in what amounted to Melrose’s most complete victory of the season.
Senior captain Mary Kate Mahoney led in scoring with 13 points—9 of them from treys, and senior Olivia Scarpa let her experience reign with 11 points over the evening. Also showing some major bite was Adriana Centrella, who had 6 points and was a key cog in the machine and helped Melrose master ball handling over the evening, along with sister Sophia Centrella, who continues to lead the team in rebounding.
THE MELROSE High girl’s basketball team is off a 4-3 start in their winter campaign. (Steve Karampalas photo)
Indeed, most of Melrose’s earlier season errors (turnovers and missed easy shots) were nowhere to be found against the Warriors. “I thought it was our most complete win of the year, certainly,” says coach Bill Hirschfeld. “I thought we played well from start to finish and overall played really well defensively.”
Indeed, Melrose saw some stifling defense early from efforts by Olivia Scarpa and Adriana Centrella. Combined with the spot-on shooting by Mahoney, Adriana Centrella and Maggie Sullivan, it was all Lady Raiders in the early minutes of the game as Melrose took a lead of 16-4 with back-to-back Scarpa baskets to end the first.
“The important thing is we took care of the ball well,” says Hirschfeld. And Melrose maintained compete control as they approached halftime thanks to steals by Adriana Centrella and Jenna Champagne. They went into halftime up 25-19.
By limiting turnovers and making smart shots, Melrose continued to roll in the second half. Their defense clamped down on the Warriors, limiting Wakefield to just one basketball nearly the whole quarter. Mary Kate Mahoney had a huge second half with 9 points, including two straight three’s. Teammate Olivia Scarpa also continued to roll, scoring 5 points and a scrappy Sofia Centrella delivered a bonus layup that kept Melrose up by 15 in the waning minutes of the game.
This past Tuesday, the girls hit a speed bump when they fell to Woburn on the road in a 55-24 loss. Among the highlights of the game were the team-high shooting from Mary Kate Mahoney and Kira Maté, who knocked in 3 out of 4 buckets in the second half, and several blocks by freshman Chloe Gentile.
Melrose will now travel to Burlington on Friday for a key league game. Tip off is at 5:15 p.m.
Freedom Standings
Freedom
League Overall
Burlington 5-1 7-1
Melrose 3-2 4-3
Wilmington 2-3 2-3
Watertown 1-3 1-4
Wakefield 1-3 1-5
Stoneham 0-5 0-6
