Rough Weekend: Warriors Drop Two Straight at Home

By Eliot Schickler

Some weekends are better than others. For the Brookline High girls basketball team, the first weekend in 2025 wasn't good.

Brookline’s first game of 2025 was a 61-37 home loss against rival Newton North High on
Friday, January 3, followed up with a 67-47 home loss two days later on a Sunday afternoon against Cathedral High of the South End, dropping to 3-4.

The Warriors had a phenomenal last weekend of 2024 in winning the Legends Classic Holiday Tournament at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High. They proved that the cliché, on any given day is usually true; if one team is functioning well on all cylinders, it can beat a better team that’s having an off-day under most circumstances.

Of course, a Division III football team, men’s basketball team, and women’s basketball team would lose to Alabama, UConn, and South Carolina every single time even when the D-III teams are playing well and the three programs that are a benchmark for excellence are off during the game. Alabama, UConn, and South Carolina would still find a way to win with 25 percent effort against a D-III program.

Unlike the top Division I programs in college football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball, Brookline doesn’t have the luxury of being able to win by coasting to victory when they’re
struggling on the court. Newton North raised its record to 3-3 after its 24-point win at Schluntz Gym. The Tigers lost 41-27 at Wellesley High on December 17. The Warriors topped Wellesley 31-24 at Schluntz Gym on December 19.

“Our league is wide open and it comes down to on any given night,” Brookline Coach Kendell Jones said. “We just got outworked. We missed a lot of layups today.”

The Warriors led 2-0 and 4-2 in the first few minutes with junior Jada Kimbro (nine points) scoring their first four points on two layups off dimes from senior quad-captain Olivia Mataraza and freshman Skylar Makalusky. Brookline took its last lead at 7-5 when Kimbro (three steals, three forced turnovers, two assists, one rebound) set up junior quad-captain Nefeli Aga-Kitch’s 3-pointer, which she swished.

However, the Warriors had trouble containing Tigers senior quad-captain Devon Burke’s inside game, and junior quad-captain Nikita Rao’s unbelievable shooting from International Waters. Burke (17 points) sliced into the paint for a layup to tie it, 7-7, and Rao (30 points) swished her second of 10 3-pointers to give Newton North the lead for good, 10-7, late in the first quarter.

“On Newton North, pretty much one girl beat us by hitting 30 points worth of 3-pointers,” Mataraza said. “As shooting out of the defense is the only way to really break down the defense we play, we need to work on communication, focus, and energy to really take the defense to the next level.”

The Tigers led 12-7 after one quarter, and their first-half lead peaked at 14, 30-16 with 1:45 remaining in the second quarter. Brookline missed too many layups and free throws, which was also costly. Overall, the Warriors were 4-for-12 from the charity stripe, which is a paltry 33 percent and well below the Shaquille O’Neal line (50 percent).

Aga-Kitch (14 points, six rebounds, three steals, one assist) scored the final four points of the half on two layups, the second one before the buzzer off a steal in which Kimbro forced the turnover. Mataraza’s (six points, six rebounds, three blocked shots, three forced turnovers, two assists) forced a turnover which led to a Kimbro steal in between Aga-Kitch’s two baskets, but another missed shot prevented the Warriors from capitalizing on their opportunity.

Brookline scored the first six points of the second half to cut the deficit to four, 30-26. Aga-Kitch’s layup off a steal that Kimbro forced opened the scoring. Makalusky (four points, three
assists, three steals, two rebounds) showed grit all game, adding a layup off the offensive glass and setting up Kimbro’s layup.

Newton North freshman Annabelle Wardly (eight points) ended the run with a layup. Aga-Kitch’s layup cut the deficit to four, 32-28, for the last time. The Warriors didn’t get closer than six the rest of the way when Mataraza’s layup made it 36-30 with 3:24 to go in the third quarter. Brookline had a chance to inch closer, but turnovers and missed shots were costly to the hostesses.

Rao then put the game with three straight treys. Her second 3-pointer made it 42-30 in the waning seconds of the third quarter, and her third straight trifecta increased the lead to 15, 45-30 with 7:41 left in the game.

Junior quad-captain Ivy Wheeler (four points, two rebounds, two steals, three forced turnovers) also scored for the Warriors. Also contributing for Brookline were sophomore guard Izzy Wood (four rebounds, two assists, one steal, three forced turnovers), junior backup center Vivianna McDonald (two rebounds, two blocked shots, one steal), and McDonald’s classmate Jaden Williams (one rebound, one forced turnover).

“I think sometimes we forget to keep our conference in perspective,” Mataraza said. “The Bay State is one of the most competitive conferences in Massachusetts, but at the same time, we haven't been communicating very well the last two games.”

Vaunted Cathedral Overwhelms Brookline

Beating Cathedral would have been a huge accomplishment and the Warriors would need to play their best game to make it happen, which they didn’t do on Sunday afternoon. The Panthers raised their record to 5-1 with the victory, 4-0 against Massachusetts schools.

Cathedral, which raised its record to 6-1 with a 52-35 win at Leominster High on Tuesday, January 7, is the defending Division 3 champion, and its only loss was a 64-27 setback at Menchville High of Newport News, Virginia on December 14. Menchville, which has a slightly bigger enrollment than Cathedral is 9-1 and ranked 21st in Virginia.

Although the Panthers used an 8-0 run to take an early 8-2 lead, Brookline showed many good signs early in the game. Wood (three points, four assists, four forced turnovers, three steals, one rebound, one tie-up) deftly set up Mataraza’s layup for the first points of the game, and Makalusky’s trey, which she swished, to cut the deficit to two, 8-6, with 4:10 remaining in the first quarter.

Senior quad-captain Olivia Zanini came off the bench for the Warriors and was solid all-around. Zanini (two points, five assists, three rebounds, two steals) set up classmate Julia Dencker’s layup,
which tied it 8-8. Dencker (two points, two rebounds), who saw considerable time as one of Mataraza’s backups in the paint, played well.

McDonald (six points, three rebounds, two blocked shots, one steal) also saw plenty of time backing up Mataraza and finished with a career-high in points while continuing to make giant strides on the court.

The 6’2 Mataraza (six points, three blocked shots, two rebounds, two steals, three forced turnovers) made her presence felt in the paint when she was on the court, but her time was limited because of foul trouble. A couple of the fouls called on her were questionable, and she eventually fouled out of the game.

Although the majority of the calls went against Brookline, which is the norm in all sports, no one can blame the referees for its loss. The Warriors committed 27 turnovers, 15 in the first half, and were 6-for-16 from the free throw line, which is 38 percent and below the Shaquille O’Neal line. They missed converting on potential conventional 3-point plays three times in the first half by failing to hit the free throw after drawing contact on the layup.

Brookline took an 11-10 with 1:15 left on Zanini’s layup off a Wood dime, and Aga-Kitch (10 points, four rebounds, one assist, one steal) added a layup, making it 13-10. McDonald’s offensive rebound led to Aga-Kitch’s bucket.

At 6’4, Sky DaCosta (eight points) was an inside presence for Cathedral and hit two free throws to close out the quarter.

McDonald scored the first four points of the second quarter to give the Warriors their biggest lead of the game, 17-12, off nice passes from Kimbro (five points, one rebound, one assist, one steal, two forced turnovers) and Zanini. However, the Panthers went on a 14-2 run to go up 26-19 and take control of the game.

Makalusky (10 points, five steals, four rebounds, three assists, one blocked shot, one forced turnover) played a stellar game for Brookline, especially on defense, and had the team’s only points that disrupted Cathedral’s surge with a layup from Wood with 5:10 to go in the half.

“I think people are becoming more confident driving and we are starting to handle pressure better,” Mataraza said.

Cathedral led 29-21 at the break before breaking it open in the second half with its lead peaking at 25, 57-32, with 6:56 left in the game.

The Warriors did some good things in the second half, forcing 13 Panther turnovers after the break. Overall, Cathedral finished the game with 18 turnovers. Overall, Brookline has plenty of work to do to improve.

“You win some, you lose some, as long as you learn from your mistakes, it’s all good,” Jones said. “We were inconsistent most of the game. We did some good things early, but we got away from this. It’s tough but it’s also a learning experience.”

Wheeler (three points, two rebounds, one blocked shot, one forced turnover) and Williams (one forced turnover) also contributed for the Warriors.

“I think we are a really talented team, and we need to want to win even more,” Mataraza said. “It will start by pushing each other more in practice however we all need to go into games with a more aggressive mindset.”