Lincoln-Sudbury Girls Basketball Team Punches Playoff Ticket

The depth of the Lincoln-Sudbury girls basketball team has been one of its strengths all season long.

It’s fitting, then, that the team clinched a spot in the playoffs Friday night with a win over Waltham when two of its top players were sidelined with injuries.

“It was a really good team win,” said senior Katelyn Wright, who didn’t play after injuring her foot in Tuesday’s win over Acton-Boxborough.  “We have two starters out, so that means we need a lot of people to step up, and I think everyone did a really good job stepping up tonight and showing us that everyone is a threat in our lineup.”

“I think [the injuries] would kill some teams,” added coach Liza Feldman.  “It’s a credit to all the kids on the team who’ve been working hard and staying fresh for times like this when we need them to.”

Senior Ali Murray also didn’t play after spraining her ankle in Tuesday’s game.

Ashley Lutz (13 points) and Meghan Sanford (6 points) stepped into starting roles and performed well for the Warriors, helping the team jump out to a 20-10 first-quarter lead en route to a 71-39 win.  The victory upped Lincoln-Sudbury’s record to 10-5 overall (4-4 DCL-Large), which secures them a spot in the postseason.

“It’s a good relief,” senior Lindsey Jones said about clinching the playoff berth.  “We started off kind of shaky and kind of pushed through the season – now it’s a good relief, but we’re still going to keep playing hard.” 

“We can’t get ahead of ourselves, we’ve got lots of big games coming up,” said Feldman.  “It’s nice to know we’re in, and it’s definitely an achievement, something to be proud of, but now that we’re in we put it on hold and we take one game at a time.”

There are some tough games remaining on the schedule for Lincoln-Sudbury.  Thanks to weather cancellations earlier in the season, the short-handed Warriors have three games next week.  Monday features a makeup game in Westford, in addition to the regularly scheduled games Tuesday against Boston Latin and Friday against Wellesley.  Feldman says she hopes to have Wright and Murray back for Senior Night against Wellesley.

Over February break the Warriors will participate in a tournament in Mansfield, during which they hope to be back at full strength.

If Friday night’s win revealed anything, though, it’s that any combination of Warriors players on the court can be competitive.  And it also guaranteed that depth will be on display in the postseason.