By Tyler Maheu, Staff Sportswriter
“A super positive evening,” said Woodstock’s fourth-year head coach Timmy MacDonnell post-game. “I’m happy and proud; the girls should be as well.”
A special all-around performance by a Wasps freshman carried the girls basketball team to a 54-27 opening night victory over the Twinfield-Cabot Trojans last Friday.
While the late-arriving crowd took a while to warm up, the Wasps were on fire from the opening tip. Woodstock began the evening’s scoring on a putback from freshman guard Paula Cortijo Martin after a missed layup on a fastbreak. A stifling man-to-man defense from the home team left the Trojans incapable of running their offensive sets, leading to a timeout around the first quarter’s midpoint, with Twinfield-Cabot already down 12-0.
“It’s the first game, and they really pressured us,” said Trojans head coach Jack Whalen. “It’s really hard to kickstart your offense when you’re getting picked up right at half court. Kudos to them, they did a really good job pressuring the ball.”
Helping with this pressure was Cortijo Martin, an exchange student from Madrid, Spain, who had her hands in every passing lane and every shot on the Wasps’ offensive end of the floor. By the time she left the court for a breather with two minutes remaining in the first, she had already amassed 12 points, two rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
“She’s athletic. She brings a different dynamic to our group just because she’s kinda tall, athletic, and physical,” glowed MacDonnell. “It allows the other girls to play off of her. When she’s the point of attack defender, it allows the other girls, like Willow Carey, who played well defensively, to shift off the other team’s top scorer, who shifts to Paula, and that helps allow other girls to be aggressive.”
He continued his high praise. “She’s special offensively. She gets to spots, she hits shots well. And again, now there’s focus on her, it opens things up a little more for other kids.” The freshman would finish the evening with a team-high 22 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
It took seven minutes, but the Trojans finally got on the board with a bucket from junior Birtu Lindert-Boyes. The first period ended with Woodstock up 22-2. The second saw more of the same, as different Wasps hoopers got their time to shine. This next run, which saw the lead balloon to 31-3, included an incredible steal by guard Carey into a stepback shot from the elbow for two of her four points in the game. The freshman stood out in the hustle stats department, accumulating four assists, two steals, two blocks, and a rebound.
The Trojans showed more fight in the second and third quarters, despite Woodstock’s big lead, especially on the boards. As a team, Twinfield-Cabot accumulated 25 rebounds, many of which came on offense. “I always say that rebounding is a hustle stat,” said Whalen. “It doesn’t matter if they’re bigger or stronger; you have to go get it. I preach that to our girls.”
“It’s gotta be a collection,” said MacDonnell of his team’s lone struggle on the night, rebounding. “We’re not super tall, we can’t just rely on Lindsey [St. Cyr] to go get every rebound.” He continued, “For game one, it’s something we can highlight to say here’s an area we can get better.”
Woodstock took a 39-10 lead into halftime, then a 49-16 lead into the fourth. In the final frame, Woodstock junior guard Khloi Bruso took the reins of the offense, hitting several three pointers down the stretch as part of her 17 points, three steals, and two assists night. “We’ve got a bunch of kids who can make shots this year,” said MacDonnell. “It’s a testament to the work they put in this summer in the gym and elsewhere.”
As the final horn sounded, Woodstock ended the night with its 54-27 win. Both coaches saw the game as a positive and have hope for the rest of the season. “I’m really happy with a lot of stuff I saw, there’s stuff to build on,” said Whalen. He then added what he told the team in the locker room postgame. “Stay together, and work hard. We work hard, we work together, we’ll be in every game by heart, and that’s all that matters.”
MacDonnell saw the game as a measuring stick for the team’s preseason progress. “A lot of it was just seeing where we are at,” he explained. “It’s game one, so it was about if we play hard, play with composure, and build off the things we learned from the scrimmage.” So far? So good. “Obviously, a super positive outcome,” he said. “I thought the girls played hard; they played super well. There are still things we need to clean up, but for game one, super pleased.”
