MIAA D2 South Pairings: Medfield Girls’ Hoops Draw 2nd Seed; Open State Tourney Play on Feb. 29

After a near-perfect regular season, the girls’ basketball team (21-1, 18-0) has earned the second overall seed in the MIAA Division 2 South Sectional State Tournament and a preliminary round bye.

The Warriors will host the winner of Sandwich/Hingham on Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. in the first round.

“[The] girls’ basketball [program] speaks for itself,” said Medfield Athletic Director Jon Kirby. “They haven’t lost a Tri-Valley League game in two years. Mark Nickerson has done just a fabulous job and that program is just flying.”

to edge the Warriors in overtime, 68-62 Wednesday in the title game of the Walpole Tournament. Nickerson, who was named the Tri-Valley League Coach of the Year, hopes that loss serves as a valuable lesson for his young, talented team heading into the state tournament.

“That’s a very good OA team,” Nickerson said. “The girls know those are the types of teams we’re going to have to beat and these are the types of games we’re going to be involved in. It's good for us to compete with those teams at that level and get the close game experience. We haven’t had a whole lot of that this season."

Prior to the season, Nickerson said the only true goal his team has is to win a state title and with the road to the TD Garden making stops through Medfield, the Warriors are in a good position to make a run.

“The goal is to win a state championship,” Nickerson said at the start of the season. “Winning the league has been nice, but Hopkinton didn’t win the league [last year] and ended up playing in the [TD Garden]. I would have traded places with them. They can have the league this year, we’ll take the state championship.”

Nickerson's players didn’t adhere to his offer and went on to defend its TVL crown for a fourth straight year and .

But to Nickerson’s point, the Warriors sustained similar success last season and earned the top seed in the MIAA Division 2 South Sectional Tournament, only to fall at home to Bishop Feehan, 50-40 in the quarterfinal round. Nickerson is confident that despite having a young team, the experience they've gained this year and the heartbreaking feeling of losing to Bishop Feehan last March will serve as a valuable lesson this time around.

"We are young this year, we were real young last year," said Nickerson. "We had four starting seniors that had experience but we had key players coming off the bench that had no experience. I'm hoping that they've played more now this season and have experienced more games. I think their confidence level is at a different level than maybe it was last year. I think we are more prepared than we were last year, which is a good thing."

The road to the TD Garden will be anything but easy, however, as Nickerson is quick to point out the Division 2 South field is extremely deep and extremely talented.

"It's difficult because the Division 2 South tournament is tough," Nickerson said. "The teams out there, Scituate, Hopkinton, OA, Bishop Feehan, who knocked us out last year, these are real good teams. We got to play well and get a little lucky but we are as good as anybody in the tournament."

The key to tournament success for the Warriors, and any other team for that matter is simple – play well.

"If we play poorly, we are going to get knocked out early," Nickerson said. "If we play well, we have a chance to go all the way."

To view the MIAA Division 2 South Sectional seedings and bracket, click here.