Girls Hoops Rockets Past Weymouth in Home Opener

December 15, 2023 • The Needham Girls Basketball team came back from a 10 point deficit to beat the Wildcats. Basketball is back with a vengeance in Needham! Both the Girls and the Boys are perfect on the young season, with the Girls taking center stage at home Friday night. Playing in front of their fans at the Launch Pad (aka the Needham High A Gym) for the first time this season, Needham’s Varsity Girls Basketball team came back from being down double digits, to pull out a 57-56 victory. The win is their second straight to start the season, after a 49-33 victory in their first game, Tuesday at Milton. After trailing 13-9 at the end of the first quarter, the Rockets struggled to find their offensive footing, particularly against senior forwards Megan Doyle and Callie Flynn in the middle. Weymouth extended that lead to 33-25 at halftime, outscoring Needham 20-16 in the second quarter. But the third quarter was brutal for the Wildcats, who after taking a 10 point lead at 35-25, were outscored 9-4 as Needham pulled within 3 points, 37-34, heading into the fourth quarter. With Weymouth up 37-30 in the third, Dani Deroian stole the ball, then dished it up court to Junior Guard Noa Brown, who hit a layup to score 2 of her 11 points on the game. With just over five minutes to go in the fourth and Weymouth’s lead just three points, Sophomore Guard Annie Camozzi ran a fast break, driving to the hoop, drawing a foul and getting a long roll that eventually went in. She would miss the three point play opportunity, but the Rockets got the ball back and Sophomore Forward Hannah Levine hit an open three at the top of the key to give the Rockets their first lead since it was 6-5 in the first quarter. After trailing 41-34 with six minutes to go, the Rockets went on a 15-0 run over three minutes, taking a 49-41 lead, finishing with a give and go from Sophomore Forward Eva Andrews to Junior Guard Callie McCarthy, back to Andrews for the basket and two of her 11 points on the game (6 of them in the fourth). Andrews also blocked four shots. Camozzi scored 10 of her team high 16 points in the fourth as Needham outscored Weymouth 23-16 in the final eight minutes. Needham would go to the brink of having to play overtime after Doyle drained a three pointer with 1.7 seconds left to pull the Wildcats within one, then drew a foul for a chance at a four point play. Although there was a question as to whether the shot was a three, upon further review (by our Needham Channel camera), the shot was indeed a three. However, Doyle’s free throw missed, and McCarthy grabbed the rebound to preserve the Needham victory. McCarthy finished with 7 points on the game, as did Levine. In total, six Rockets players scored, with Freshman Aislin Flaherty picking up five points in her second career varsity game. Needham will put their perfect record on the line at Brookline on Tuesday, December 19th. Meanwhile, after their 68-38 win at home against Milton Tuesday, the Rockets Boys team went to Weymouth and beat the Wildcats 62-54. Needham will be back home December 19th against Brookline. The Needham Channel will be recording a broadcast that night, which will debut Thursday, December 21st at 8pm after our live newscast. The full broadcast of the Girls win over Weymouth will debut Monday night on-air and online at needhamchannel.org, but in the meantime, here are the highlights from the last quarter and a half, courtesy of our Needham Channel Instagram page:

 

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