Up 11 points in the third quarter, the Westwood High girls basketball team appeared well on its way to a 27th consecutive Tri-Valley League victory Friday night against Medway in an early battle of unbeatens on Nahatan Street.
Medway cut the edge to just three points entering the fourth then outscored the hosts 19-10 in the final quarter to hand the Wolverines their first league loss since a 44-40 setback at Holliston on Feb. 4, 2006, a stunning 59-53 decision. Westwood falls to 5-1 overall and in the league while Medway takes over sole possession of first place in the TVL at 6-0.
“It was quite a battle,” said Westwood coach Bill Riley. “It’s a tough loss to have at home but if anything good came out of it is that it showed you have to play every second aggressively to win, and I think Medway did that.”
Jill Greenberg led all scorers with 23 points and added six assist and five steals, but Medway got 19 points each from Katy Howard and Jill Muntz, who drained five 3-pointer that proved to be the difference. Laura Maloney had a big night with 18 points and 12 rebounds for Westwood.
The Wildcats took control in a pivotal second quarter to drop the Mustangs to 1-3 overall and in the Bay State Conference Friday night.
Norwood led 13-12 after the first, but with Stephanie Perry on the bench with foul trouble Milton jumped out to a 27-20 lead at the half and kept the Mustangs at arms length the rest of the way, with Milton’s Liz O’Connor scoring 12 of her 14 after the break.
Perry and Emily Dixon scored 12 points each to lead Norwood while Stephanie Collins added eight. The Mustangs went 18-of-25 from the line during the contest, which featured 37 fouls.
“It was a double-edged sword, it helped us and it hurt us,” said Norwood coach Giles Parker of the closely-called game. “It was disappointing because I thought it was a game we could have won.”
The Marauders suffered through their toughest offensive performance of the season in dropping to 3-3 overall and 1-3 in the BSC.
Dedham managed just nine field goals on the night as the Raiders held the Marauders top three scorers, Jill Moses, Nicole Savi and Andrea Vogt, to a total of none points. Kelli Timmins’ six points led Dedham, which trailed 27-12 at the half.
“We had terrible shooting night as a team,” said Dedham coach Don Savi.
