After graduating five seniors and two starters last year, the Walpole High School Girls Basketball team knew they would have some big shoes to fill. Stepping in to fill the point gaurd position is sophomore Julie Moser, who was on the Junior Varsity team as a freshman, but also made tournament team last year. Senior Darci Bruce also earned herself a spot in the starting line-up in her third year as a member of the Varsity team. Returning as starters are Senior Captains Lauren Bodin and Bridget Nicholson, who will also see time at point gaurd, and sophomore Summer King, who excelled in her freshman season.
The team opened up their 2012-2013 season with a 63-48 win over Natick on Friday, December 14 in Natick. The girls came out strong, leading at the end of the first quarter 9-4. The Rebel’s offense came alive in the second quarter, with Nicholson hitting two three-pointers early to keep their momentum going. The Rebels were able to come away with a comfortable lead at the end of the first half, up 28-16.
At the start of the second half, Natick gained momentum as they cut the lead down to 4. However, junior Bri Doherty was able to come off the bench and contribute six points along with five from King to extend the Rebels’ lead to 14. Natick came back again in the fourth quarter, closing the gap to only six points. But, the Rebels’ defense was able to hold Natick to only one point for the final four minutes of the game as the offense added an addition ten points to secure the win. Bodin finished off an impressive night with 25 points, King added 21, Nicholson had eight, and Doherty and Moser rounded off the scoring with six and two points respectively. Junior Nell Sandvos, one of the team’s five returning varsity players, also saw time off the bench.
Following their strong performance in Natick, the Rebels fell short in a 55-30 loss to Newton North at their home-opener, inconsistency appearing to be a possible issue for Walpole only two games into the season. The girls came out slow in the first quarter, scoring only two points in the first quarter as Newton North went up 11-2. The Rebels had issues with turnovers as the game went on, often making passes that were picked off by Newton North’s defenders. The Tigers were able to capitalize on Walpole’s mistakes, scoring a number of uncontested layups off of steals. Nicholson said, “We definitely saw areas that we need to improve on, but hopefully we can get back to playing like we did against Natick and start playing consistently.”
Moser led the Rebels in their game against Newton North with eight points, as new team members senior Michelle Monahan and sophomores Olivia O’Brien and Maddie Oser saw a fair share of playing time coming off of the bench.
Despite the loss to Newton North, the Walpole girls hope to get back to winning in their third game of the season against Brookline on Thursday, December 20 at Brookline High School with a 5:15 start time.
