In a back-and-forth battle that wasn’t decided until the final seconds of the game, the Lynnfield girls basketball team pulled one out of the fire Sunday afternoon against visiting Wakefield 49-45.
Clinging to a 40-39 lead after a bucket from junior captain Hayden Valiton (11 points, 6 rebounds), sophomore Olivia Braley strapped the team to her back and scored eight of the Pioneers’ last nine points, including two clutch free throws with eight seconds to go to put the game out of reach.
If the Warriors had any hope of pulling off an improbable comeback, Braley dashed them, stealing the ball on the ensuing possession to allow Lynnfield to run out the clock.
“I don’t really know what was going through my head, but I was a little stressed out,” Braley said. “Everyone was cheering on the bench, though, so that really helped. I’m super happy that we won. I feel like everyone did well and everyone had really good looks. Today, we really played together as a team.”
Braley wasn’t the only Pioneer to play a key role in this one. Sophomore Chloe Grieves dominated the glass at both ends of the court, posting a monster double-double of 14 points and 20 rebounds (9 offensive). Junior Chloe Bergeron contributed 14 points off the bench. Sophomore Calleigh Caprio (4 rebounds) was a defensive force, much to the delight of Lynnfield coach Sue Breen.
“Chloe Bergeron had a great game today. She works so hard,” Breen said. “Honestly, I thought the whole group played well and was pretty composed. When they made mistakes, they didn’t freak out about them.
“Calleigh played so well on defense. We know what Chloe Grieves and Hayden are going to give us. That’s why having Olivia and Chloe Bergeron play like that just makes everything work for us. Everyone contributed something today.”
Tied 24-24 at the half, the Pioneers carried a 34-33 lead into the final quarter. Wakefield quickly erased the deficit with a 5-0 run to lead 38-34. Back-to-back buckets from Grieves knotted the game 38-38 with about five minutes to go.
The Pioneers countered with a 5-1 run, courtesy of buckets from Valiton, Braley, and a Valiton free throw to make it 43-39 with three-and-a-half minutes to go. After a Warrior free throw, Braley took over, answering with a jumper to give the Pioneers their largest lead of the game (45-40).
With less than two minutes left, Wakefield rattled off five straight, the final a three from Vanessa Tringali (11 points) to knot the game at 45-all with 30 ticks on the clock.
Re-enter Braley. She responded with another jumper, making it 47-45. Junior captain Maeve Wertz pounced on a loose ball to break up the Warriors’ next possession, setting the stage for Braley to polish things off.
“We hit a big three to tie it up, but we just had too many unforced turnovers,” said Wakefield coach Jason Pavey. “I think we had four travels on our last four possessions, but give Lynnfield credit. They didn’t hang their heads after we hit that three. They came right back down and hit a shot, so credit to them. They played a full 32 minutes and we didn’t, so they definitely deserved to win.”
Breen agreed with Pavey that the Pioneers played a complete game.
The Warriors’ Emma Ickes (13 points) was a force in the paint.
“You can tell they (Warriors) are a strong team,” Breen said. “They’re big and physical. The first quarter, we looked good; the second, not so much. They got ahead in the third quarter, but we kept clawing back and the same thing happened in the fourth quarter, so I’m really proud of the girls. It was great to win a close game. We made some key shots, but we also made some mistakes, but they’re just kids and that’s what happens.”
