Win Against North Reading Qualifies Wildcats for State Tournament

The  girls basketball team took on the North Reading Hornets on Wednesday night on the road, and despite trailing by one-point at the half,  went on to win the contest, 50-43, and qualified for the MIAA State Tournament in the process. 

"It’s really exciting for the kids to get their tenth win, and making the state tournament," said Wilmington coach Jay Keane. "Every year we’ve made the tournament since I’ve been here, and that’s a credit to the girls because they've worked really hard." 

With the loss, North Reading's record drops to 8-7, while Wilmington improves to 10-6 on the season. The Wildcat victory secures the team's spot in the running for states, while the Hornets are still in the hunt for a tournament berth. 

"[Wilmington] hit their open shots, and they hit their free throws," said North Reading coach Karla Sullivan. "We got some good looks, but unfortunately our shots didn't fall and we missed some free throws."

The two squads came out aggressive in the first half, battling to a 27-26 score in North Reading's favor going into the midway point. 

"I’m proud of how we played tonight," said Sullivan. "We came out ready to play, and we took it to them in the first quarter."

Wilmington's Emily Crannell opened up the third quarter by knocking down a three-pointer, giving the Wildcats some momentum right from the get-go. Crannell proved unstoppable from beyond the arc, sinking three three-pointers on the night and registering 15 points in the victory. 

Foul shooting gave the Hornets a lot of trouble throughout the game, missing eight out of their 14 free-throw attempts. Despite their shooting woes, North Reading trailed by just three points as the final eight minutes went up on the clock.

Another three courtesy of Crannell to open the final quarter put her team back up by six as the Wildcats attempted to take control in the final minutes. 

"We made a nice little [scoring] run at the end, and we ran a nice play for Emily and she just keeps hitting that three-pointer on in the corner," Keane said.

With two minutes remaining, a three-pointer by Wilmington's Cailin O'Flaherty widened the scoring gap to nine with little time left for North Reading to recover. With time not on the Hornet's side, they ended up dropping the close contest, 50-43. 

Despite the loss, junior guard Lauren Herbert had a strong outing, registering 18 points for her team. North Reading's center, Kirsten Morrison, also had a good night in the paint, locking in 13 points of her own. 

Center Maggie Brown had a good night for the Wildcats with 14 points, while Meaghan Stinson also shot well, registering 11. 

"North Reading is a very good program," Keane said." They are tough. Their guard Lauren Hebert is an outstanding player. Morrison is also really tough to defend, but I thought we did a good job helping out and I knew we wouldn’t stop her completely, it was just a matter of containing her."

Next up, the Hornets will take on undefeated North Andover Friday night at 7 p.m. during their senior night as they try to increase their winning steak to five.