Published January 14, 2021
By DAN NUNN
NORTH READING — The NRHS girls’ basketball team opened the season on Jan. 5 with a hard fought 41-37 home victory over the Hamilton-Wenham Generals. Junior Rose Morelli stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists. Sophomore Brianne Slattery was terrific with nine points, four rebounds and two assists and senior captain Sarah Gerber was a beast on the boards with two points and 13 rebounds.
NRHS roared out of the gates to a 14-4 lead by the end of the first quarter and were up 26-14 at the half. But the visitors refused to go away and stormed back to within 39-37 with under a minute to play. Luckily, Slattery nailed two big free throws with 11 seconds left to play to ice the game.
“Getting the first game into the win column was a good way to start the season,” said head coach Bob Romeo. “With no preseason scrimmages there was a high level of uncertainty on what to expect. Fortunately we got off to a good start and made enough plays down the stretch to seal the win.”
It was North Reading’s first game since they played at the TD Garden in the state semifinals in March. The Hornets won the Div. 2 North championship by winning four postseason games including a victory over north powerhouse Pentucket 41-36 at the Tsongas Center in the championship game. The Hornets fell to Foxboro in the state semifinals.
North Reading graduated multiple key players from that team, but the Hornets are looking forward to building the program back up during their abbreviated 2021 season.
The Hornets improved to 2-0 when they defeated Georgetown 48-31 on Friday. They fell to 2-1 after dropping a 37-27 contest to Lynnfield on Monday. The Hornets hosted Ipswich on Wednesday after press time. They host Newburyport on Friday night at 5:45 p.m.
