Girls Hoops Handles Bay State Conference Foe Natick

January 19, 2024 • Needham jumped out in front early and never looked back.

After five days off, Needham Girls Basketball was back on the floor of the A Gym Friday night hosting Natick on Metrowest Night. Hannah Carroll’s team came out on fire from behind the three point line, hitting seven of their first thirteen from beyond the arc, and rolled to a 53-38 win. The Rockets, #13 in the first MIAA Division 1 Girls Basketball Power Rankings, improved to 8-2 on the season.

Needham had one of their best first quarters of the season, scoring 23 points and taking a 23-12 lead after the first eight minutes, on 6-10 three point shooting. Juniors Callie McCarthy and Noa Brown each hit two of those, with Sophomores Hannah Levine and Annie Camozzi each hitting one apiece. McCarthy hit a fabulous buzzer beater at the end of the quarter you can see here:

 

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Levine drilled another in the second quarter, as Needham finished the first half shooting the aforementioned 7-13 from long range, leading the Redhawks 33-16. Levine also lead the way in scoring at the half, with ten points, finishing the game with 14. McCarthy had eight at halftime and finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.

The Redhawks staged a bit of a comeback in the second half, pulling as close as 11 with about four minutes to go, after trailing by as many as 20. But Needham fired back, with Camozzi’s second three pointer coming with just over three minutes to play, then with less than two and a half left, Levine drove and hit a basket in the lane for two.

Sophomore Eva Andrews was a force in the middle once again, as she grabbed ten rebounds and blocked five shots to go along with five points. On the game, the Rockets cane away with 30 rebounds, though they did also have 19 turnovers, which they overcame to get the win.

Needham shot 9-21 from three point range on the game, with McCarthy’s 2-3 (66.7%) being the highest individual percentage, followed by Levine’s 2-4 (50%). Brown finished the game with nine points, on 3-7 three point shooting, with her 42.9% matching the team’s percentage. Camozzi had seven points on 2-5 three point shooting (40%).

Needham was next scheduled to host Newton North on Tuesday, January 23rd, but the game was postponed due to the Newton Teachers Strike. So the next game will be at Wellesley next Friday, January 26th.

TNC Programming Manager Mike Levin has full highlights from the win over Natick from the Needham Channel News, which you can see here:

The highlights from this story ran as part of the Needham Channel News, a weekly newscast airing on The Needham Channel every Thursday at 7:30pm. The Needham Channel News can be found on the Community Channel: Comcast 9, Astound 15 and Verizon 29. Most Thursdays it also can be viewed on our HD Channel on Verizon 2129, Astound 613 and streaming on this site.

 

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