At the end of the third quarter, the board read Bromfield 27, North Brookfield 30. Down by just 3 points on their senior night, the Trojans refused to lose. They scored a 16-6 comeback run in the fourth quarter to win the game 43 to 36, taking one step closer to making the playoffs.
It was their last home game and their senior night as the Bromfield girls basketball team hosted the North Brookfield Indians Feb. 12.
Fourteen seconds into the first quarter, North Brookfield scored a field goal—the first basket of the game. But just 20 seconds later, Bromfield tied the score with a 2-pointer by senior Neale Lee-Feinberg.
The team lagged the Indians by a few points for most of the game but dominated with a 16-6 run during the final quarter, scoring a total of nine baskets: two free throws and seven field goals. Senior Nora Clarke scored four of the field goals, and senior captain Ella O’Neil scored two of them.
The last basket was made by Clarke with 22 seconds left in the game. The crowd shook the bleachers, stomping and cheering.
Lee-Feinberg, who scored 12 points, praised her team, saying she was most proud of “the fire that we came out with during the second half … we came out with a different game I think; that’s what we ended up winning with.”
Coach Anne McWaters said, “I just knew how much it meant to them … they finally locked in in the fourth quarter and they were like: ‘let’s go; we have to finish this and we gotta win.’ They just had to come to that decision and then they can do it.”
The game was the eighth win for Bromfield, with an overall 8-9 record, and the fourth loss for North Brookfield with a 12-4 record. The home team is a Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 4 school that plays in the Midland-Wachusett D League while the away team is an MIAA Division 5 team in the Worcester County league.
The girls were scheduled to play their last game away against the Assabet Aztecs at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 14, and move to the Central Mass. playoffs if they won.
Nina Iverson is a junior at the Bromfield School.
The bench explodes as Bromfield pulls ahead for the first time in the game. From left: Lucy Maiore, Kennedy Dylewicz, Coach Anne McWaters, Maggie Reitman, Ally Becker, Cassidy Fisher, and Coco Demetros. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Left: Nora Clarke looks for a basket as Ella O’Neil looks on. Right: Neale Lee-Feinberg watches her shot hit its mark.
