The month of January has been nothing but league games. Tuesday night a league foe, rinse and spit, another league foe Friday night. Tuesday night a league foe, rinse and spit … you get the idea. For the past three and a half weeks. But on Thursday night, Watertown got the chance to face a non-league foe, in advance of the D3 Tournament, and see where they stand. Watertown entered the game 8-4 on the season, while Milford sat at 6-7. What started out as a back and forth contest, turned into a one-sided affair as the Raiders could never put together a stretch of consistent basketball, as they fell to Milford by the score of 60-43.
Milford threw everything but the kitchen sink at Watertown in terms of defenses — half and full-court 1-3-1, a little half-court 2-3, man-to-man and a full court 2-2-1. The different looks didn’t necessarily phase the Raiders, but it, at some level, had them playing tentative basketball. More the issue? Turnovers and rebounding. Milford destroyed Watertown on the offensive glass, and it led to second and third chances, fouls, and trips to the foul line. And it wasn’t because Milford had a huge size advantage. Watertown just either didn’t box out well enough, stood around watching or wasn’t aggressive enough. Look, rebounding is all about the details — desire, determination and dedication. On this night, the details were lacking too often.
Watertown was also tentative running their half-court sets, and it led to ill-advised passes and turnovers. Don’t get me wrong. The Raiders are a good basketball team, they are young, and this was but one night. The combination of shortcomings though led to only two field goals in the second quarter on the way to being outscored 17-9. At the half, the Raiders trailed by 15. In the third Watertown’s offense came to life, to the tune of 17 points, including 3’s by freshmen Natalie Haley and Marlo Murphy and sophomore Brooke Lambo. The only problem? The Raiders gave up 15, 10 of them by point guard Ava Baglione. If the Raiders could’ve solved her, they might have made some headway on cutting into the lead.
Watertown never gives up, though, and they continued to compete till the final buzzer. Everything that went wrong on this night is certainly correctable. The Raiders showed glimpses of good ball movement and good shot selection. Lambo and Freshman Diana Martin were much more aggressive on the defensive glass, especially in the second half. On the other hand, Watertown went to the line only seven times on the night, making three. Milford? Well their hustle and aggressiveness earned them 24 trips to the foul line! They made 18. And believe me, this discrepancy was not a result of poor officiating. Milford, in the word’s of actor John Houseman from a TV commercial of yesteryear (Google it!) earned it!
Watertown gets a chance to rinse and spit three times this week, as they head back to the hardwood Friday night at Wilmington. Any team relishes the chance to erase the memory of a poor outing, and Watertown Girls Basketball gets to do that less than 24 hours later!
With the loss, Watertown moves to 8-5, while Milford evens their record at 7-7.
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1 2 3 4 – F
Milford 15 17 15 13 – 60
Watertown 9 8 17 9 – 43
Milford
Baglione… 22 points
Nashawat… 14
Cunningham… 10
Watertown
Haley… 12
Martin… 10
Lambo… 10
Brennock… 8
Murphy… 3
Next Games:
Friday January 30 @ Wilmington
Tuesday February 3 versus Stoneham… 7 pm
Friday February 6 versus Wakefield… 7 pm
Tuesday February 10 versus Melrose… 7pm
Home games played at Watertown Middle School