Girls’ basketball, 14-1, became third in the state after defeating  Braintree, 14-3, in a 60-54 game, snapping Braintree’s streak of 65 Bay State Conference wins Sunday, Feb. 10, in the Reggie Gym.
Both teams played equally terrific defense through the first half of play, ending with a 27-17 Tigers’ lead at the half, before they were really able to pull away in the second half.
“A real turning point of the game was when Izzi Bledsoe took a charger because Braintree had been going on a run, but the charge was a good play for the whole team to come together and be able to pull out the win,” commented senior Sayawni “Say-Say” Lassiter, a captain along with seniors Summer Dias and Caroline Howley.
Lassiter contributed to the team’s win by scoring 34 points. “She’s phenomenal, her confidence impacts the rest of the team and her ability to know she can win the game makes the other girls believe it as well,” said coach Maura Hamel. Sophomores Izzi Bledsoe and Kelley Manley were each also able to score eight points each, with phenomenal defensive play from Bledsoe as well.
After the beating the team that handed the Tigers their only loss of the season, the two teams swapped places in the state rankings, dropping Braintree down to fourth and catapulting the Tigers into third.
Though it was an important win for the Tigers, Lassiter is looking ahead into the bigger scheme of their season, exclaiming, “It was a definitely a great win for us being that it was Braintree, who had been our only loss of the season, but it means more because it means that we’re heading in the right direction.” She then added that, “we ultimately have bigger goals than just that regular season win. So while the win was good, we still have work to do.”