Winter Hoops Season Comes to an End
March 8, 2024
• Girls and Boys Basketball both fall in the Division One Round of 16.
Both boys and girls basketball came into their Tuesday night playoff matchups as the underdogs. The girls, the 10 seed were paired up with the 7 seeded Weymouth Wildcats for their 3rd matchup of the season. The boys, the 15 seed traveled to the 2 seed, Catholic Memorial for a tough task of taking down a very strong Knight team. Unfortunately for the Rockets, it wouldn’t be an understory story for either.
In both their regular season matchups, the girls trailed the Wildcats by double digits. On December 15th, the rockets completed the comeback after Weymouth missed the tying free throw and took the win 57-56. When they met again in Weymouth, Needham gave them all they could handle, but the deficit was too much to recover from and lost 54-49. The 3rd matchup would go almost the same way.
Needham struggled from the field in the first half and trailed 24-14. Weymouth’s all-time leading scorer, Megan Doyle kept the rockets at an arm’s length, until the 4th quarter that is. Needham found themselves down 13 early in the 4th, their largest deficit of the game. But instead of rolling over, they finally found their rhythm from beyond the arc. Callie McCarthy got it started by nailing a top of the key three, then Noa Brown buried a deep triple to cut things to 7.
Things would go back and forth until the final 2 minutes, when Hannah Levine hit her first three of the contest, cutting Weymouth’s lead 46-44. The wildcats started to get rattled, immediately turning the ball over and giving Needham a chance to tie. On the next possession, Annie Camozzi got the ball from an inbounds play, took it straight in for a game tying layup. But Megan Doyle would answer with a great up and under move, giving Weymouth the lead back with seconds to go.
The Rockets had their chances to tie it up again, but two missed layups leaving only 2 seconds on the clock would seal the 48-46 win for Weymouth. Needham would end with season at 15 and 7 with some great lessons to take with them.
On the same night, the boys traveled to West Roxbury to take on Catholic Memorial, one of the favorites to win the State Championship this year. The Rockets went on a Cinderella run last year to their first title appearance, but that wouldn’t be the case this time.
Needham kept things close throughout the first half, trading baskets with the Knights. Senior Captains Brian Cloonan and Jackson Shaw led the way each with 9 points, only trailing CM 36-30. But the Rockets wouldn’t have answers for CM’s Ryan Higgins in the 2nd half, who would finish with a game high 27 points,
The Knights ran off 11 unanswered points to start the 3rd, pushing the lead to 17. Although Needham cut it to 8 at one point, they never fully recovered. Catholic Memorial took the win 81-64, sending the Rockets home in the Round of 16. Needham finished their season at 14-8.
We have highlights of the games here, so check them out!
