Belmont Girls' Basketball Starts Winning Streak Away

Maybe they can play all their games on the road.

On Friday, Jan. 6, Head Coach Melissa Harts' Belmont High School Girls' Basketball squad traveled to Winchester and in their most complete game of the season, defeated the Sachems, 41-32, a win that did not go into double overtime or would come down to a final shot.

The team is 3-5 (2-0 in the Middlesex League, Large Division) with each victory coming away from Wenner Field House.

Belmont relied on a balanced attack, strong defense and the return of senior Izzy Goldstein (5 point), who had seen sitting out the season due to an injury sustained in Belmont's Girl Soccer playoff match with Newburyport back in October. Goldberg played several valuable minutes allowing Hart to rest junior forward Olivia Lyons (6 points) for the final push.

Belmont needed to see several players contributed to the scoring column in the first 16 minutes as team leader junior forward/guard Katie Leinbach was held scoreless in the first half. Senior guard Amari Bradshaw led the team with 6 points as sophomores Gabrielle Joyal (a basket) and Mizuho Hirai (one-of-two from the free throw line) came off the bench to score.

Knotted at 19 at the half, Belmont upped their defensive coverage, holding Winchester to a pair of baskets over the eight minutes, shutting out Winchester's top scorer, 5' 10" senior guard Elise Testa, in the quarter.

While Winchester struggled with Belmont's D, the Marauders saw five score including four from Leinbach, Goldstein's 3 and a pair from junior 'sixth man' Kate Zolner to jump the lead to 32-23. 

While Winchester got off to a quick start in the fourth with three baskets, freshman guard Caroline Niland hit a basket and a beautiful, spinning scoop shot from Zolner pushed the lead to 37-30 with a little less than two minutes remaining.

Testa kept the Sachems close with a minute remaining, but Leinbach's four for six from the charity stripe gave Belmont their first winning streak of the season.