Medfield Hoops Teams Close Out Regular Season in Norton

It's game 18 on the Tri-Valley League schedule, signifying the regular season finale. Medfield travels to Norton, looking to build momentum heading into the state tournament with victories over the Lancers. 

Girls' Basketball:

Medfield (18-1, 17-0) at Norton (7-13, 5-12)
Norton High School, Norton, 5 p.m. 

The Medfield High girls' basketball team has a chance to record its third undefeated season in the TVL in four seasons with a victory tonight. 

The on Jan. 19. Medfield exposed Norton's lack of size in the paint during that game and fed the ball early and often to forwards Natalie Dickinson and Jen Narlee. Dickinson scored 16 points and Narlee added 12 on Jan. 19.

Norton was hovering around .500 both in overall record and TVL record after its 23-point loss to the Warriors. Since then, Norton has only won two TVL games and three overall. Meanwhile, Medfield has continued to cruise this season, winning 17-straight in the TVL and 17 of 18 overall. Last week against Ashland Medfield locked up its third straight TVL title and MHS head coach Mark Nickerson said he and the team were pleased to achieve that goal. The next goal on their winter checklist is an unbeaten TVL season. They get that chance to cross that off the list tonight.

Prediction: It is very difficult for a basketball team to overcome a disadvantage in size and win. Norton found that out on Jan. 19 when Medfield used its size advantage to dominate at both ends of the court. The Warriors had it going on, like they have the majority on the season, finding a sound rhythm on offense and defense and there's no reason to expect that won't happen again tonight. Nickerson did point out after that Jan. 19 contest that Norton does have shooters and that Medfield needed to play focused defense in order to slow the Lancers down. Expect Medfield to be both focused and in rhythm, again using size to its advantage. Medfield to win and close out another unbeaten season in the TVL. 

Boys' Basketball:

Medfield (10-7, 10-7) at Norton (14-6, 11-6)
Norton High School, Norton, 6:30 p.m. 

As was the case nearly a month ago, Medfield and Norton take the court tonight with sole possession of third place in the TVL on the line. 

On Jan. 19 in Medfield, the , thanks to an outstanding defensive effort and the scoring ability of sophomore Johnny McCarthy. That win propelled Medfield ahead of Norton in the TVL standings, sitting behind league powers Medway and Hopkinton. Not much has changed over a month's worth of games, except it is once again Norton ahead of Medfield, after the Warriors endured a difficult, four-game losing streak. 

Both of these teams are in the state tournament and in the regular season finale are playing for nothing more than better seeding in the playoffs, which is an important thing to be playing for. 

Prediction: It is suggested in both the standings and records that these two teams are evenly matched. That Jan. 19 game was a statement win for Medfield because it proved it could do two things as a basketball team: close games in the fourth quarter and beat a quality team in the league. Norton only led once in that game, 40-39 midway through the fourth quarter but could not sustain it as Medfield tightened up on defense and made the clutch buckets down the stretch. This is another one of those "flip a coin" kind of games. Expect both to play physical defense and limit offensive opportunities but Norton gets the home-court edge. Lancers to win. 

Smith's season prediction record: 49-12