Season Recap: An Off Year for the Lady Raiders

Last season, the Melrose High girls basketball team powered through the Middlesex League with a 17-3 recrod en route to a Div. 2 North championship. The Lady Raiders would ultimately fall in the state semifinals, but the season was definitiely one to remember. 

But what a difference a year makes. 

After graduating nine seniors, , Melrose fielded a much younger, and inexperienced team. 

The result: an uncharacteristic 5-15 season. 

The 2010-2011 season got off to a promising start. Melrose got 16 points from junior Jenny McGee to  and then went on to beat Burlington 39-30 to start 2-0. 

But that 2-0 mark would unfortunately prove to be the high-water mark for Melrose, as the Lady Raiders went on a five-game skid with losses to , Reading, , Winchester and Lexington. Lia Limone led Melrose with 16 points in that game while Sydney Doherty had nine points, all of which came in the fourth quarter . 

Melrose finally snapped out of its funk with a convicing, , and then behind the strong play of sophomores Brooke Bell (12 points) and Doherty (10 points). 

That winning feeling was once again short-lived, and it would be another seven games before Melrose would notch another 'W' in the win column. 

The Lady Raiders lost big to Stoneham once again,  followed by their second losses to both and . 

Melrose picked up its final win of the season with close, 42-40 win over Watertown at home, but then closed out the year with losses to Wakefield, Tewksbury and Wilmington.

There is no doubt that this was a disappointing year for the Lady Raiders. But there is hope for next season. A slew of what were young and inexperienced players gained some much-needed playing time this year, including sophomores Brooke Bell, Kayla Wyland and Sydney Doherty. 

Combine that with a solid veteran corps of junior captains Lia Limone and Jenny McGee along with junior forward Jill Slabacheski, and 2011 definitely could be a big bounce back year for the Lady Raiders.