Published January 15, 2020
By EMMA LAMBIASO
STONEHAM — Last week was a great one as the Wakefield girls’ basketball team took victories over neighbors Reading and Stoneham on back-to-back days.
Thursday, the Warriors defeated the Rockets at home in a rescheduled game from earlier in the season. In a very close, game, both teams had fans on the edges of their seats, but in the end, the Warriors pulled ahead by three points to secure a home victory.
“We were actually down going into the fourth quarter, and we had a bunch of people step up and hit some big shots. Maeve Gaffney ended up with 15 points in that game, with two huge 3’s in the fourth to kind of seal it for us,” recounted Wakefield Head Coach Jason Pavey.
EMMA SHINNEY scored 21 points against the Spartans on Friday night. (Lisa Butler Photo)
This was the first game of the season in which the Warriors conquered a Liberty Division team, a big deal as these teams are in a higher division comprised of bigger schools.
“Reading’s super athletic. We went in there with a pretty specific game plan. I was really proud of how the kids executed that game plan,” beamed Pavey.
The good vibes from the Reading game sent Wakefield into another spectacular performance the following night on the road against Stoneham on Friday. While the Spartans scored the first points with a 3-pointer, freshman Emma Shinney set the tone by quickly matching those points with a jumper of her own from the line, sending the message that the visiting Warriors were not to be taken lightly.
After a close first quarter that ended with Stoneham ahead by one point 15-14, Wakefield turned up the heat, especially junior Amanda McKean who scored 12 points in the first half, all from swishing 3-pointers. Shinney also had a stand out half, scoring 10 points of her own. While the Warriors doubled their first-quarter score in the second, they accomplished a feat of holding Stoneham to only one point for the entire second quarter, making it a score of 28-16.
“Whether it was the Reading game or tonight, it was really about our defense and execution,” said coach Pavey on Friday.
Some might say it was raining 3’s for Wakefield, a trend that continued into the third with both Gaffney and Shinney nailing shots from deep, Shinney’s expanding the Warrior lead to nine points in the third quarter. Shinney had a total of 21 points for the entire game. Going into the fourth quarter, the visiting team was up 36-27.
Another important contributing factor to the Warriors’ leading score was the number of offensive rebounds the team collected all night, but especially in the fourth quarter. They could smell another win and worked hard until the last buzzer.
And to make the win even sweeter, senior Winnie Mylan hit yet another 3-pointer for Wakefield in the last two minutes of the game, sealing the score at 48-30.
Wakefield extended their streak to three with a massive 41-35 win over Arlington last night, improving their league record to 4-3. The Spy Ponders came to Wakefield with the second best record in the Liberty Division. A full story will appear at a later date.
The Warriors will get ready for another strong team on Friday when Freedom Division-leading Burlington comes to town for a 6 p.m. tip-off.
