Sports
Mustang Girls Hang Tough With Powerhouse Braintree
The girls lost Friday to an undefeated Braintree team, but not before tying the game in the fourth.
While the Mustangs did not score for near the entire first half of the game Friday, their aggressiveness in limiting Braintree's shooting, forcing several turnovers and grabbing most any and all loose balls, allowed them to trail by only six points at the end of the first and stay in the game.
Unfortunately the efforts went unrewarded as Braintree cemented an undefeated 6-0 record by beating Norwood 35-26.
The Braintree lead ballooned to 15-0 with only four minutes gone in the second period, before sophomore Makenna Lane finally scored Norwood’s first basket. Norwood continued their aggressive play and defense, leading to multiple Wamp turnovers and subsequent fast breaks baskets by Katie Johnson and Justine Ryan that propelled Norwood to a 5-0 run. After Ryan sank a left handed hook shot late in the half, Norwood cut the Wamps lead in half, to 18-9 at the break.
“This reminded us a little of , where we only scored four points in the first half” Norwood head coach Brian Meringer said. “We just couldn’t get in a flow. Once we got a couple baskets, we go some confidence.”
In the third quarter the confidence only continued, as Lane and Ryan led the Mustangs with multiple baskets each. When Lane scored a left handed layup, for her seventh point of the quarter, with 40 seconds left, Norwood trailed only 24-21, entering the fourth period.
Mustang sophomore forward Cristina Hart grabbed an offensive rebound and was subsequently fouled to start the fourth. Hart made both free throws and cut Braintree’s lead to one, at 24-23.
With nearly five minutes gone in the final quarter, Ryan launched a deep three-point shot from beyond the top of the key. It found the glass and tied the game at 26.
However Braintree’s Paige Marshall hit a jumper and free throws down the stretch to stem the intense Norwood onslaught, cementing a Braintree win 35-26, and extending their undefeated record to 6-0.
“The effort was outstanding. I thought our kids played with a tremendous amount of heart.” Meringer said. “We are down to a 5-0 team that beat Newton North – a powerhouse in the league. We are down 15-0 and we come back to tie it in the fourth. As a coach I am proud of them.”
Meringer and Braintree head coach Kristen McDonnell share more than both being second year head coaches for their respective schools. They both work at Norwood High School - McDonnell as a guidance counselor.
“Brian is a great guy and great coach,” McDonnell said. “He makes overachievers. By no means did we come in thinking this was an easy game at all. I said to my team, he (Meringer) will throw everything at us – they are a scrappy team, they are tough and they don’t get down.”
“We are a young team,” Meringer said. “It's early in the season and Braintree is good. They are 6-0 and extremely well coached. They are going to make a lot of teams look ugly.”
Ryan followed up her 28 point performance in a , with 13 points against Braintree, despite being the focal point of Braintree’s defense. Lane finished with 10 points.
“They (Braintree), scouted her against Brookline,” Meringer said. “She wasn’t going to get any open looks and she didn’t, she had to work.”
“They did a good job,” McDonnell said. “They are well coached. We definitely had to play to them in the second half. They forced us into some different things we had not seen yet – we were lucky to get out of here with a win.”