On Tuesday, January 5th, Girls’ Basketball faced Newton South at home. Both teams played hard in this close game, but Newton South ultimately took home the win with a final score of 52-60.

WA started out strong as junior Angela Alibrandi won the tipoff and gained possession early in the game. Sophomore Elizabeth Arnold made a basket in the first minute of the game.

Junior Camille Desrochers scored two foul shots four minutes into the game to bring the score to 4-0. After a time out by Newton South with five minutes in, the opposing team kept in the game with a few baskets, bringing the score to 4-7.

Desrochers scored a three pointer with two minutes left in the first quarter. With nine second left in the quarter, sophomore Emily Bramanti was fouled and sunk both shots, bringing the score to 9-13, with Newton South taking the lead.

Early in the second quarter, both Arnold and junior Amanda Smith scored two foul shots each to bring the score to 13-15. Junior Angela Alibrandi made a shot close to the basket, followed by Smith with two three pointers in a row with four minutes left in the first half.

Bramanti both made baskets in the final minutes of the first half, while Newton South also excelled offensively. At the end of the first half, the score was 24-27, with Newton South remaining slightly ahead of the Grey Ghosts.

Newton South’s strong offensive play put WA’s defense to the test, but Alibrandi feels that the Ghost’s solid defense kept them in the game.

“Newton South is definitely one of the toughest teams that we will face in the league and I think that we played well against them,” said Alibrandi. “Our communication and help defense was strong as well. I feel that we really worked well together as a team.”

One minute into the second half, Desrochers made a pass to Arnold who followed up with a shot that brought the score to 26-29.

Both Arnold and Alibrandi scored to make the score 31-34. With two minutes left in the third quarter, WA called a time out to discuss strategies going into the final quarter of the game.

Following the timeout, Bramanti and Alibrandi scored again to bring the score at the end of the third quarter to 35-37.

The score remained close in the beginning of the fourth quarter, with baskets by Arnold and sophomore Allison Mulhern to make the game a tie with a score of 40-40.

Strong defensive plays and communication from WA kept the game close throughout most of the game.

“Our defense was definitely our strongest point and is what held us together. Communication was a key part In tonight’s game,” said senior McKenna Doremus.

After another timeout by WA, both teams remained competitive. However, Newton South began to stand out offensively, and increased their lead to 43-48.

In the last two minutes of the game, Bramanti, Mulhern, Alibrandi, Arnold and Doremus attempted to take foul shots. Despite some successful shots, WA was unable to surpass Newton South’s lead and were ultimately defeated with a final score of 52-60.

Head Coach Russell Coward was disappointed that WA lost and noticed the team start to break down slightly towards the end of the game as Newton South extended their lead.

“I’m upset at myself for making a few poor coaching decisions. I thought we played fairly well offensively and defensively for the first 27 minutes of the game but got a little frantic at the end,” said Coward.

Desrochers feels that the team played decent with Newton South being one of the most difficult teams WA will face this season, and hopes to improve on a few things for next game.

“They are an amazing shooting team and with two of the best girls in the state you have to gamble a little,” said Desrochers. “I think that we moved the ball well offensively and had good communication on defense. Hopefully next time we can make some adjustments and come away with a win.”

WA will travel to take on Cambridge Ringe and Latin on Friday, January 8th.

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