Needham Girls Get Pair of Wins Over Wellesley

January 17, 2025

• Girls Basketball picked up their third straight win, and Girls Hockey improved to 5-2-1 on the season.

On back-to-back nights, Needham girls’ teams defeated their rival, Wellesley. Girls Basketball dominated the Raiders on Tuesday, January 14th, winning 62-25, for their first three-game win streak of the season. The next day, Wednesday, January 15th, it was Girls Hockey taking down the Raiders 4-3 at the Babson Skating Center. 

Girls Basketball started off strong, jumping out to a 22-1 lead in the first quarter, and holding the Raiders to just 25 points, the second-lowest total they have allowed all season. Wellesley’s offensive struggles were clear from the start, as they did not convert a field goal until 2:12 remained in the second quarter.

The game started with junior Eva Andrews winning the tipoff and Noa Brown sinking the first shot of the game, a 3-pointer to put Needham up early. After two missed shots and a turnover by Wellesley, the Rockets doubled their lead with another three from Hannah Levine. Callie McCarthy hit a three to join in on the scoring, capping an 11-0 run to start the game and forcing the Raiders to take an early timeout.

Wellesley finally got on the board when sophomore Maira Gianarikas hit one of two free throws late in the quarter. With just over one minute left, Annie Camozzi drained a three to close the quarter for the Rockets, who shot 50% from behind the arc in the first. Needham struggled offensively in the second quarter, scoring just seven points. However, their defense remained stout, and they took a 29-5 lead into the locker room.

Needham came out of halftime with their foot on the pedal, scoring another 22 points in the third quarter. McCarthy found Levine wide open for three, then passed to Camozzi in the corner for another triple shortly after. McCarthy tallied six of the Rockets’ 13 assists on the night. One of the best plays in the quarter came from Andrews, who collected three consecutive offensive rebounds and ultimately scored on the putback. She finished with a double-double, recording 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Although Wellesley scored 12 points in the quarter, the Rockets extended their lead to 51-17, with Aislin Flaherty hitting a three to close the frame.  Freshman Paige Moyer shined in the fourth quarter with five points, two rebounds, and a block. Needham had extremely even scoring in the win, with Andrews, Camozzi, and Levine contributing 10 points and Brown and Moyer adding eight each.

The Rockets improve to 6-4 on the season and will hit the road for their next three games before returning home to face Weymouth on Friday, January 31st at 6:45 p.m.

As for Girls Hockey, they survived a dangerous comeback attempt by Wellesley but held on to win 4-3 and pick up their fifth win of the season. The Rockets came out strong, scoring three goals in the first 11 minutes of the game and adding a fourth goal before the period ended to take a dominant 4-1 lead. But Wellesley battled back, scoring twice in the 2nd period to make it a one-goal game heading into the third.

The Rockets scored the first goal at 7:40 in the first period. After forcing a Wellesley turnover, Sarah Porras backhanded a pass off the board to Katelyn Birnbaum, setting up a 2-on-1 opportunity. Birnbaum sent a perfect pass to Jill Peabody, who scored to give Needham a 1-0 lead.

Just minutes later, freshman Cassie Ling doubled the Rockets lead, winning the puck in a battle against the boards and skating up the right side before getting it past Wellesley Goalie Tess Bassett. Peabody added to the Rockets’ momentum, making it 3-0 11 seconds after Ling’s goal. She set up alone in front of the net, collected the pass from Sarah Porras, and blasted it to the upper left corner of the goal. The tally was Peabody’s eighth goal of the season.

The Raiders found their footing later in the first, scoring off a turnover in Needham’s defensive zone. Charlotte McDonough fired a shot at 2:55 that initially hit Caitlin McNeill’s pad but bounced off behind and into the net to make it 3-1.

But the Rockets responded quickly, as Sami Bonasia poked a pass forward to Ling, who found herself behind the entire Raider’s defense. She backhanded the puck into the net to reclaim the three-goal lead. Ling, Needham’s leading scorer, now has 11 on the season.

Wellesley broke through late in the second period. Caitlin Hamburger capitalized on a rebound from Olivia Comella’s shot, tapping it past McNeill to make it 4-2. The Raiders scored again in the final seconds of the second period. McDonough fired a shot from the edge of the right face off circle and slipped it past McNeill, making it a one-goal game with 10 seconds left.

The Rockets generated a few scoring opportunities in the third, but they couldn’t capitalize on them, including a shot from Bella D’Amelio that almost went by Bassett before the Wellesley goalie swept it off the goal line. With 1:26 left in the game, the Raiders pulled Bassett from the net for an extra skater. After a few huge stops by McNeill, including one with 14 seconds left where she stopped a shot and laid over the rebound, Needham secured the win.

Needham will be on the road for their next four games before returning to home on February 1st when they will host Bay State Conference opponent Weymouth in a rematch of their early season 2-2 tie.

Mike Levin has the highlights from both games in the video box below: 

The highlights above 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.