Braintree Girls Basketball Advance to State Title Game

It doesn’t matter how many time the Braintree girls’ basketball team makes it to the state semi-finals, it never gets old for the Wamps.

After four state semifinal appearances in a row and their second win, the Wamps have earned the right to travel to Worcester this Saturday to defend their Division 1 State Championship after a convincing 61-37 win over the Andover Golden Warriors.

The win brought things full circle for a Braintree team that faced Andover in their first trip to the state semi-finals back in 2012. Unlike this year, that team’s season ended at the Garden.

“Freshmen year it was surreal to be here but this year we have one more step to go. We came here on a mission and we had it in the back of our minds that Andover beat us the first time. We didn’t really know what to expect, they played great defense and we did what we could,” Braintree senior Ashley Russell said.

As they have all season long, Wamps displayed a clinical team performance with three players hitting double digits and the starting five scoring a combined 48 points. Brianna Herlihy led the game with 12 points, followed by Bridget Herlihy and Russell with 10 points each. Molly Reagan had nine points.

“There’s no one kid that thinks they have to be the hero. They share the ball so well; it’s about the team rather than the individual. To win that way, I think is the absolute best way,” Braintree coach Kristen McDonnell said.

The victory will have special meaning for Bridget Herlihy, who scored her 1,000th point with a layup with 2:58 remaining in the first half.

“She deserves it and that’s why we were praying to keep winning,” McDonnell said.

Never trailing during the game, Braintree opened the contest with a 14-2 run behind the shooting of Russell and Brianna Herlihy. Racking up points from the start, Herlihy was able to pass her way out of a triple team early in the first quarter, finding Russell for a three pointer. Another outside shot from Russell pushed the lead to 12 with 2:42 left in the quarter.

Andover’s only momentum of the game came in the final moments of the first quarter, sparking an 8-2 run capped off by a coast to coast layup by Rachel Cormier to end the quarter and cut the Braintree lead to six.

The Golden Warriors were unable to cut the deficit any further as the Wamps’ interior defense forced Andover to rely on mid-range jumpers and three pointers. On the other end, Braintree’s balanced offense meant four players who scored 4-6 points during the quarter, for a total of 19 second half points.

Braintree continued to show the variety of ways they can beat their opponents in the second half, with Molly Reagan scoring seven points in the third quarter, mainly from inside play under the basket.

The Wamps will face the winner of the Wachusetts-Central semi-final at the DCU Center on March 14 at 5:45 p.m.