WMS seventh-grade girls’ basketball cruises past King

By Matt Pascarella

The seventh-grade Windham Middle School girls’ basketball team could not be stopped in their game against King Middle School. Once Windham’s Mackenzie Delewski scored the team’s first couple points, there was no stopping the Lady Eagles who put up 14 points in just the first quarter.

From then until the final buzzer Windham would not be surpassed. Their teamwork gave them a significant lead which they held onto for four quarters.

Windham's Lily Gallagher moves toward the basket as the ball
leaves her hand during a game against King on Jan. 6 at 
Windham Middle School. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

Despite Windham’s strong lead for the entire game, their intensity never dipped. As the clock ticked away its final seconds, Windham won by an impressive 45-12 score on Thursday, Jan. 6 at Windham Middle School.

“I think they are a very unselfish team; they look for the open player,” said Windham seventh grade girls’ basketball coach Katie Franzoni. “We were able to work on some of the things that in tighter games were not able to work on, like an out-of-bounds play we had practiced before. We were able to do a little more of our offense which sometimes we’re not able to run.”

This helped Windham gain confidence in areas they may not have been confident in before.

The Lady Eagles won the tip off and immediately began moving the ball between teammates. Windham stayed with the ball and communicated throughout the game. Windham snagged rebounds and turnovers.

The Lady Eagles pulled away from King quickly and kept a big distance between the teams. They dominated after one half and led 30-4.

Windham hustled from the start of the second half and prevented many scoring opportunities for King. Windham continued to add points to the scoreboard and gave 100 percent for the rest of the game.

Windham’s Grayson Cornish, who scored her first basket of the season during this game, said it was teamwork that gave the team such a big win; everyone worked together for the entire game.

“We ran our plays really well today,” said Delewski. “We were passing and did really good. We made the shots; they were falling. We were talking a lot more on defense.”

Delewski said they had a lot of energy. They really got into the flow of things; they were making good cuts which helped.

Franzoni said defense did not give up easy baskets. Windham moved their feet more and had minimal fouls during the game.

“Our passing [went really well],” said Coach Franzoni. “Looking for the open player and not forcing shots; we did a good job at trying to get lots of people involved in scoring.” <