Who doesn’t love nostalgia? Young people, of course, because they’re too young to know anything. But someday seniors Adriana Williams, Alani Garey, Victoria Dicker and Caroline Andrade will look back and remember putting together a pretty darn good season on the hardwood for Watertown High School.
On Wednesday night Feb. 20th at the Middle School Gymnasium named after Watertown legend Victor J. Palladino, Williams, Garey and Andrade added to their legacy as student-athletes.
Williams, Andrade and Dicker have had their fair share of success, of course, as star players for the field hockey team. While it’s hard to match that success, they have tried their best. Unfortunately, Dicker went down with a knee injury the last night of January, and has had to watch from the bench, but as co-captain she has remained a leader from the sidelines.
Watertown entered this contest 12-8, and in need of a win to try and secure a top 16 power ranking in Div. 3 of the MIAA. With a place among the top 16 comes a guarantee of at least one home game when the tournament starts next week. The Girls Varsity were ranked 15th entering last weekend, but a non-league loss in OT on Saturday moved them down one to 16, and left them no room for error.
Ursuline Academy, an all-girls school in Dedham, plays in Div. 2 out of the Catholic Conference. They came into the contest 10-9 and ranked 35th in the D2 power rankings. Watertown sped to an early 10-4 lead behind superb play from Williams. She was flying around the court the whole night, making sure her last regular season game as a high school hooper was one to remember. Adriana had 9 points in the quarter, and was Watertown’s high scorer with 14 on the night.
Ursuline fought back to 10-9, but a late-quarter 7-2 Watertown run had them up 17-11 after one quarter. The second quarter was mostly about trading hoops and trying to stay out of foul trouble, as officials sent Williams to the bench with three fouls early in the quarter. She came back late in the quarter though, and didn’t foul again while remaining a buzz-saw all night. It was 26-19 Watertown at the half.
The third quarter saw the Raiders put this game away, essentially, with a 20-point effort. The scoresheet was very balanced, including a three from Garey and Natalie Haley, the eighth-grader’s third of the night. Garey finished the evening, and her impressive regular season career, with eight points, and she provided her usual stellar defense.
Up 16 after three, neither team did much in the fourth, but most importantly Watertown didn’t allow Ursuline to make any kind of run. Andrade had no field goals and only four free throws in the first half, but she got going in the third, and one last bucket in the fourth had her end her regular season career with 10 points.
So, with the 54-34 win Watertown ends its regular season at 13-8. They fishished 11-5 in the Middlesex League Freedom Division, and in second place behind only 13 and 3 Wakefield.
For a team who lost a lot of outside shooting to graduation, and was going to have to rely on a freshman, in Brook Lambo, and two eighth graders (Natalie Haley and Natalia Keuchkarian), to contribute a lot of minutes in their first varsity seasons, there should only be one take-away when looking back on this season down the road — it was a very successful season.
This team has a bright future despite losing four seniors to graduation, but first the present — a first round game next week. Brackets should be announced Saturday, Feb. 22. The Watertown girls won their first round game last year and lost their second round game despite being the higher seed and up through three quarters. Surely, the seniors would love another chance to advance beyond the second round. Stay tuned. Memories await!
It is Alani Garey
Thanks for letting us know. It is corrected