Girls’ basketball defeated the Walpole Timberwolves 47-45 in a close, hard-fought game Friday, Jan. 24 at home.
“It was a game that was just gonna be won by grit and toughness, and doing the little things, and to win one here was great.” said head coach Todd Sundstrom.
North entered the game strong, with freshman Annabelle Wardly making a quick layup off a pass from senior Devon Burke, a captain along with senior Brooke Ufland and juniors Allie Danis and Nikki Rao.
As the game progressed, North continued to dominate in the first quarter, with non-stop points from Wardly, Burke, Rao, and Danis.
“We started off super strong, and that momentum helped a lot,” said Burke. “More people are getting involved and getting on the board each game, which is huge.”
In the second quarter, the Tigers began to struggle and lose their momentum, causing fouls, turnovers, and entering halftime with only a 21-18 lead.
Walpole entered the third quarter with fiercer energy than North, making layups and drawing fouls against the Tigers, allowing the Timberwolves to swiftly take a 26-23 lead.
“We knew Walpole was a good team coming into this game, but we stayed with it and found other ways to win,” said Ufland.
The Timberwolves continued their offensive strength, but North stayed persistent and found ways to get the ball in the net. With impressive three-point shots from Burke and Rao to end the third, the score was 36-28.
As the fourth quarter began, both teams resumed their hardworking and consistent efforts. The game was constantly back-and-forth, and became tied from another three-point shot from Wardly with 1:02 left in the game.
After both teams called timeouts, sophomore Mia Mescher aggressively stole the ball from Walpole and passed the ball to Burke, who made a decisive layup in the final seconds of the game to close it out 47-45.
North, 6-6, will play Framingham away Tuesday, Jan. 28.
