Medfield Completes Unbeaten Regular Season In TVL

Medfield completed an undefeated season in the Tri-Valley League with a 59-33 win over Norton High Friday. The win improved the league champions to 19-1 overall and a perfect 18-0 mark in the TVL. The loss was the sixth straight for Norton, who dropped to 7-14 overall and 5-13 in the league.

Prior to the game, the Lancers honored their seven-member senior class and their parents. Forward Nicole Cuneo was introduced first, followed by center Alexi Idreos, guards Audra Schlehuber and Jessica Wasylow and forward Alex Grimes. The two senior captains, forward Shannon Hansen and guard Kayla Bessette, were then honored.

“These kids have pretty much been the core of the program for the past few years,” said Norton head coach Nicole Nunes. “These girls have made a huge impact on the team, especially during our seven wins this year. They have helped turn the program around. But I can’t believe how fast the season has gone by. It seems like we just started practice.”

Grimes, Schlehuber, Wasylow, Hansen and Bessette were all in the starting lineup.

Bessette had missed the previous eight games after receiving 30 stitches due to a dog bite. She began the game and received a pass from one of her classmates before being removed, four seconds into the contest. Cuneo replaced her in the lineup.

Sophomore forward Jen Narlee led the way for Medfield on Friday night with 13 points and 19 rebounds. Senior captain and forward Hillary Collins scored 10 points, while 6-foot-3 senior center Natalie Dickinson had nine. The Warriors had a total of 10 players score in the game.

“Our kids were pretty focused for this game,” said Medfield head coach Mark Nickerson. “We wanted to finish undefeated in the league. We also had the opportunity to play a lot of kids and work on both our half-court offense and defense. Our focus in this game was picking out things that we need to work on.”

Narlee was announced the TVL Player of the Year Thursday night. Dickinson was named to the All-Star team as was senior guard Kate Wasley and freshman guard Lauren Petit. Brown was a second-team All-TVL selection for the Lancers.

Junior guard Meg Brown led the Lancers with eight points. The sister combination of senior Jessica Wasylow and sophomore guard Rebecca Wasylow both scored six points.

Rebecca Wasylow also had six steals and four assists.

Junior Kristen MacGray scored four points, while Hansen had three. Sophomore forwards Alison Alioto and Brianna Arcaro each contributed two points as did Idreos.

After suffering a 60-37 setback earlier in the season in Medfield, the Lancers stayed with the Warriors for a good part of the first half.

Medfield scored the first nine points of the game before Norton responded with a 6-1 run that closed the gap to 10-6 with 1:45 remaining in the first quarter.

Narlee had six points during the game-opening surge by the visitors, while Collins hit a three-pointer. A three-pointer by Brown got Norton on the board at the 4:20 mark with another three by Brown closing the gap to four with under two minutes left in the quarter.

Medfield bounced back with a quick 6-0 run to open up a 10-point lead at 16-6. Dickinson had a basket during the surge as did Petit and Narlee. The Warriors would end up holding a 17-8 advantage after one quarter.

“I thought we contained them pretty well in the first quarter,” Nunes said. “I thought we confused them a little with what we were doing on defense.”

A nice driving lay-up by Rebecca Wasylow pulled Norton to within seven at 17-10 with 4:51 left in the first half. But those would be the last points the Lancers would score in the quarter as the Warriors went on a 15-0 surge to open up a 32-10 half-time lead.

Collins and Dickinson each had four points during this game-changing run, while senior captain and guard Maddie Bouchard had three points. Freshman Kristin Fechtelkotter and Narlee also had two points apiece.

“I thought we were relatively effective moving the ball,” Nickerson said. “We were pretty patient. I thought we also rebounded well and did a good job working the ball into the post. The thing that I have liked the past couple of weeks is that we are dictating the pace of our games. We want to play at our tempo, not anyone else’s.”

Norton used a modest 5-2 run at the start of the second half to close the gap to 34-15, but Medfield then went on a 15-5 surge that pushed its advantage back to 49-20. A steal and lay-in by Rebecca Wasylow with 44 seconds remaining made it 49-22 after three.

Medfield outscored Norton 17-12 in the third quarter. Freshman forward Abby Johnson had four points in the period for the Warriors, while Collins and sophomore Georgia Zimmerman each had three. Rebecca Wasylow led Norton in the third with four points, while Jessica Wasylow and Hansen each scored three points and Brown had two.

Starting with the steal and basket by Rebecca Wasylow, the hosts went on a 6-0 run to close the gap to 49-26 with 4:45 remaining in the game. MacGray scored all four of her points in the fourth quarter during this surge.

After the Warriors scored the next five points to go ahead 54-26, the Lancers scored four straight points on baskets by Idreos and Arcaro. Rebecca Wasylow later hit a three-pointer to close out the scoring for the Lancers.

“Their post presence is huge,” Nunes said. “We focused on doubling them in the post and their girls got hot from the outside. They are just such a well-rounded team.”

Medfield will compete in the Walpole Tournament next week. That event will feature Dighton-Rehoboth, Walpole and Oliver Ames. The Tigers, the defending Division 2 state champions, handed Division 1 Mansfield its first loss on Friday night.

The Warriors will open the tournament by playing the Falcons on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The tournament’s consolation game will be held on Wednesday at 6 p.m. with the championship game taking place at 7:30 p.m.

Norton will close out its season with a trip to Martha’s Vineyard to face the Vineyarders in a non-league contest on Wednesday at 3 p.m.