BRAINTREE — Watch your back around Hailey Sherrick.
That’s not as mean as it sounds.
Sherrick isn’t talking behind your back. Nor is she inclined to stab you there.
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But the Braintree High senior point guard does have a burning desire to throw a basketball off your back on an inbounds play, grab the deflection and hit an easy layup.
That’s exactly the sleight of hand she pulled Wednesday night against town rival Archbishop Williams in 50-40 Wamps victory that served as a playoff tune-up for both teams.
“That’s her signature play,” classmate Kamryn Adams said with a laugh. “She loves doing that.”
“She loves that one,” agreed fellow senior Adrianna Casanova. “She’s always trying to do that to people. And then the reverse layup, that’s her specialty.”
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Sherrick’s trickery — taking advantage of a defender who chose to face away from the inbounder — came in the first minute of the fourth quarter, putting the Wamps ahead, 36-25.
“I’ve been trying to do that all season,” said Sherrick, who had 11 points. “I did it once before and it worked. Then I did it a second time and it didn’t work. But (the defender) was standing in the right spot (this time). Sometimes I miss. But that time it worked out well.”
That play was one of four big ones Sherrick made in the fourth quarter, which started with Braintree (10-8) comfortably ahead but saw Archies (8-12) whittle the deficit down to four points with under four minutes remaining.
With 5:20 left, Sherrick missed a corner three but flew down the baseline, grabbed her own rebound and fed Adams for a basket that gave Braintree a 38-30 lead.
“I like to follow my shot,” Sherrick explained. “It doesn’t go in that much, so sometimes I can get my own rebound.”
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After the Bishops had sliced it down to four (39-35), Casanova rattled in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the hosts some breathing room at 42-35.
Sherrick soon was at it again, first feeding Jillian Fay down low for what became a pair of free throws that made it 44-35 with 2:33 left, and then picking off a pass and setting up Adams for two more foul shots and a 46-37 cushion with 1:39 left.
“That’s what she does best,” Casanova said of Sherrick’s all-around play down the stretch. “She’s really athletic; she jumps out of the gym. Especially on defense she can get steals, and we always want her to bring the ball up the floor because she’s fast. She can get by anyone.”
Sherrick’s big finish allowed Braintree to finish the regular season strong, winning five of its last seven. The Wamps were seeded 28th in the latest MIAA Div. 1 power rankings and will find out their first-round playoff opponent on Saturday when the brackets are released.
“We’ve won the last two games here, so hopefully that will give us some motivation for the playoffs,” Sherrick said. “We’re doing a lot better than we were at the beginning of the season. We’ve made a lot of progress.”
“Our last couple of games I don’t think we played as well as wanted to,” Casanova said, referencing this win and Monday’s 51-38 conquest of Wellesley, “but just that we could tough it out and still get the wins puts us in a good place, ready for tournament.”
Despite the loss — its second to Braintree this season — Archbishop Williams has some momentum, too. The Bishops stumbled to a 1-7 start but have gone 7-5 since then.
“As a team we weren’t really working well together,” coach Matt Mahoney said of the early woes. “I was just trying to find the right combination and get the right substitution pattern. It got better as the season went on.”
On Wednesday, Williams got solid games from junior guard Elise Carter of Weymouth (game-high 17 points on five 3-pointers) and junior forward Angie Coletti of Quincy (10 points). The Bishops led 15-10 in the second quarter but went scoreless for the final 5:40. Their 15-14 halftime lead evaporated when the Wamps doubled them up, 20-10, in the third quarter.
“The shots weren’t really falling” Casanova said of Braintree’s first-half offense. “We were getting good shots in the first half; they just weren’t going in for us. You just have to shoot yourself out of it. You keep shooting and eventually they’ll fall.”
The Wamps were certainly balanced on offense. Casanova led the way with 12 points, Sherrick and Fay each added 11, and Adams chipped in with 10. Braintree helped itself by hitting nine of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter, including a 4-for-4 effort by Sophie DeAngelis (6 points).
Despite its sub-.500 record, Williams was 14th in the latest Div. 3 power rankings — a reflection of its difficult schedule that has included matchups against the No. 1 seeds in both Div. 1 (St. Mary’s) and Div. 4 (Cathedral), plus the No. 3 seed in Div. 3 (Bishop Fenwick) and the No. 5 seed in Div. 1 (Bishop Feehan).
“We just have to take care of ourselves,” Mahoney said of Williams’ playoff chances. “We can’t worry about the other team.”
Time was when other teams were very worried about both Williams and Braintree come playoff time. From 2012-2019, each program won four state championships (Williams in Div. 3, Braintree in Div. 1) and seven South Sectional crowns.
Mahoney said he doesn’t think the Bishops are burdened by their glorious past. They were 16-8 in 2019-20 and lost in the South final before slumping to 5-9 last winter when the MIAA did not stage playoffs due to the pandemic.
“We don’t talk about it much,” Mahoney said. “This is a whole new group, lot of young kids.”
Asked if Braintree’s run of success is ever a burden on the current team, Adams acknowledged, “Yeah, it is. We know we can’t live up that. We can try our best, though.”
After winning the 2018-19 state crown, the Wamps finished 10-11 in 2019-20, losing in the first round. This will be their first trip back to the tournament since then.
“When I was a freshman here we won (a state crown), but we haven’t won since,” Sherrick said. “We had a lot of talent my first year. Our goal was to make it to the tournament this year, so we made it.”
“I think people underestimate us because of that,” Casanova said of Braintree’s pedigree. “They think, ‘Oh, they’re not as good as they used to be.’ (Our motivation) is to prove to people that we still can be good. It doesn’t mean (winning) a state title, necessarily, but we could still make a tournament run.”
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