After beating Newton North on Tuesday January 3, the Walpole Girls Basketball Team fought off another league opponent, Brookline, on Friday January 6, improving their record to 5-1.
The game started off with junior Lauren Bodin making a three-pointer to set the pace of the game and to start the lead the Rebels held for the whole game. The Rebels continued this up-tempo style for the remainder of the game’s first period. Each player’s speciality contributed to the success of the team in this game, with great passes and shots taken by any player on the court. The fans could tell that the Rebels can play well together and that they have maintained their motto of being a “family.”
The scoring was spread out in all four quarters, with approximately ten points scored by Walpole and eight points scored by Brookline each quarter. Freshman Summer King was a dominant figure in the middle with incomparable aggressiveness and confidence, which was a key asset for the Rebels when trying to switch the ball to the other side of the court. Senior Captain Steph DeSantis and junior Bridget Nicholson also had distinguishable efforts on the court when they saved the ball multiple times from going out of bounds and successfully shot many two-pointers for their team throughout the game.
Whenever given a breakaway, the Rebels relied on senior point guard Adrianna Frattasio, who put in four fast break lay ups over the course of the game. Also a senior, and a captain, Shannon Cullen made many of her free-throw shots, mainly in the third quarter. At the end of the third quarter, the Rebels lead the Warriors 38-33.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Brookline almost caught up to Walpole, cutting the lead to only two points. Brookline’s tactic was to pass the ball to their center, Raven Brathwaite, who tried to take on all of the Rebels. There were times where the plan worked, but for the most part the Rebels defense prevailed and led into an effective transition offense. The fourth quarter scare made the Rebels pick up their game, as they scored nine more points while allowing only one Brookline field goal.
The final score of the game was 53-44, which can be partially attributed to all of the Rebels on the court. The collaboration and consistent communication the Rebels had gave them the upper hand on Brookline. Each starting player on Walpole’s team scored points—for the Warriors, only three players found the score sheet. It is no surprise that the Rebels have found great success this season and that they could continue their success in future games. DeSantis said, “We’ve got a lot of depth on our team and a lot more experience. Our last few games have shown what we can do on the court. We still have a lot of hard competition coming up, Wellesley especially, but I think that we will do a lot of damage.” The Rebels plan to face Wellesley on Tuesday, January 10 and Milton on Friday, January 13, both away games, with similar ambition as the Brookline game.
