Despite Strong Effort, Norton Falls to Westwood, 42-34

In what felt like a playoff atmosphere for both teams, the Norton girls’ varsity basketball team (7-10) hung with the Westwood Wolverines (7-8) Tuesday night, thanks to Rebecca Wasylow and Meghan Brown in addition to a number of Wolverine turnovers.

But in the end, Westwood simply outplayed Norton in the final minutes of the game, leaving the Lancers with a 42-34 loss.

Wasylow scored 12 of Norton’s 14 first-half points as her team faced only a 16-14 deficit. Brown continued the scoring in the second half, contributing 12 of the team’s 20 points including two three-pointers.

“Westwood would focus on who was doing well presently so we just needed someone else to step up but we just needed the entire five on the floor to step up at the same time,” said Norton head coach Nicole Nunes. “Westwood played pretty consistently all game, we were just mentally fatigued and lost it at the end.”

Wasylow and Brown combined for 26 points for Norton and finished with 14 and 12 respectively. Kristen MacGray contributed four points and Shannon Hansen and Alexandra Grimes each had two.

Junior Keira Travers scored 10 of Westwood’s 14 fourth-quarter points to lead the Wolverines past Norton, 42-34. Travers scored a season-high 12 points and grabbed eight boards off the bench and has played some of the most aggressive basketball Westwood has seen this season.

“Her energy sparked the entire team and really won the game for us,” said Westwood head coach Brianne Bognanno. “She worked hard on defense, went in on every offensive rebound, and was the one there on every loose ball and she clearly needs a couple more minutes.”

Travers, who also added two steals, played the entire fourth quarter and talked about her success down the stretch.

“When I get more playing time I try to use it to my advantage and just do what I usually do," Travers said. "The support on the court as well as from the bench also really helps."

Westwood committed 28 total turnovers in the game, including seven in the final frame, something that kept Norton around longer than Bognanno hoped.

“That many unforced turnovers was unusual for our team but their effort is always there and they aren’t going to stop until the end,” Boganno said.

Emily McGrail had another solid game for the Wolverines finishing with nine points and six steals. She was followed by Laura McHoul who had seven, and Kate Rich and Leah Lessard with five each.

Westwood, who has been flirting with the .500 mark all season, must win two of its final three games in order to make the postseason tournament. Norton needs to win out their conference schedule to keep its playoff hopes alive.