Warriors Lose to Flyers on Somber Senior Night

By Eliot Schickler

Senior Night at a high school game is usually a day of celebration no matter what the outcome is.

Five seniors on the Brookline High girls' basketball team deserved a better finish to their high school basketball careers at Schluntz Gym. Quad-captains Olivia Mataraza and Olivia Zanini, along with classmates Kyrieh Simmons, Julia Dencker, and Amelie Hauner, who were all positive role models and solid ambassadors to the program deserved a much better finish to their careers at Schluntz Gym.

Brookline lost 56-34 to Framingham High on February 11 on a night when nothing went right
for the hostesses. Although the Warriors had many good looks to the basket, most of their shots didn’t go through the net, none for the first 11:59 of the game.

“We couldn’t put the ball in the hole,” Brookline Coach Kendell Jones said. “They may have been nervous and may have been overthinking. They had many good looks and took many good shots, but they couldn’t put the ball through the hole.”

Before the opening tip, all signs pointed toward a beautiful evening for everyone at Schluntz Gym, starting with a nice pregame ceremony. Unfortunately for the Warriors, everything went downhill after that. Their struggles weren’t the saddest part of the night, which marred the night and destroyed the celebratory mood. With 1:10 left in the game, a Framingham player fell on the court, and couldn’t get back up. Because of this being a medical issue, the fallen player’s name is being withheld over privacy concerns.

Not only did this affect the player’s Flyer teammates, but the medical emergency traumatized the Warriors too, which put the kibosh on the typical post-game Senior Day celebrations in the previous senior classes. Thankfully, the player was released from the hospital and she’s fine now.

“We’ve played together since fifth grade, we support each other, and we’re there for each other,” Mataraza said. “Things happened that were beyond our control. Thankfully, the girl from Framingham is OK.”

Brookline trailed 10-0 after the first quarter, with the Regan sisters, senior co-captain Allie Regan, and sophomore Stephanie Regan leading Framingham in all facets of the game! The Flyers took a 24-0 lead before Simmons (six points, one rebound, one assist) swished a 3-pointer off a feed from freshman Skylar Makalusky (nine rebounds, four steals, two assists).

Framingham led 30-7 at the half. Junior quad-captain Nefeli Aga-Kitch (six points, three
rebounds, two steals, four forced turnovers, one tie-up) and classmate Jada Kimbro (four points, three rebounds, one steal) hit layups for Brookline in the first half.

Although the Warriors struggled with shooting and committed 20 turnovers, this figure is relatively low for a lopsided loss. They had committed many more turnovers in blowout defeats.

Conversely, Brookline’s defense forced 18 turnovers. The 6’2 Mataraza (four points, four rebounds, three blocked shots, one assist) used her length to lead the Warriors in causing six Flyer turnovers.

The Warriors outscored the Flyers, 27-26 in the second half. Brookline closed the gap to 17, 50-33 with 2:55 left in the game on Mataraza’s bank shot off a Simmons feed.

Makalusky led the Warriors in scoring with nine points and showed plenty of hustle and tenacity. She had four straight team points, hitting a layup to close the third quarter and two free throws to open up the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Izzy Wood (two points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal, three forced turnovers) was scrappy on defense.

Dencker (one point, four rebounds, one forced turnover, one tie-up), a 5’10 backup center, who started at power forward on Senior Night, did well on the glass.

Zanini (two rebounds, one assist. one steal) did things for Brookline which wasn’t reflected in the scoreboard. Hauner (one rebound, one steal, one tie-up) showed grit on the court.

Junior quad-captain Ivy Wheeler (two points) hit a layup in the fourth quarter and classmate Jayden Williams (two rebounds, one assist, one forced turnover) displayed toughness on the court.