In between the end of the regular season and the start of the MIAA tournament, Medfield girls basketball played some of its toughest competition all year: against each other.
The Warriors split up the roster into evenly-matched teams and went at it. Head coach Mark Nickerson acted as referee, missing calls on accident and sometimes on purpose to rile people up. Players yelled at him and talked trash at each other as they pushed their limits. Junior Naya Annigeri and sophomore Abby Broderick both called it the most memorable practice of the season.
At the end, Nickerson even had to gather his players together and check in – are they all still friends?
"We were like, 'Oh yes. Don't worry,'" Annigeri said.
From spectator seats, the top-ranked Warriors' 25-0 romp to a third consecutive Division 2 championship looked easy. They beat every opponent by double digits with an average win margin of 37.9 points. Even the state final against No. 5 St. Mary's was a 34-point blowout.
Medfield was supposed to step back slightly this winter after losing starters Jailen Annigeri (graduation) and Izzy Kittredge (transfer to Nobles). Instead, the Warriors became one of the best MIAA teams in recent memory because of how they competed behind the scenes.
"A lot of the times, practices in that time of the season were harder than games," Broderick said. "But I think we just took advantage of our team and the talent we had. If we have this good team, we might as well use each other to get better and help everyone else get better around us."
Nickerson almost never makes his team run sprints — a relative shock when watching how fast the Warriors play. His practice philosophy evolved with a spark from 2014 graduate Lauren Petit, who once asked why the Warriors didn't practice shooting more often. Now Medfield's practices are heavily centered around shooting and scrimmages that build in conditioning and keep up competitive drive.
"Most people play a ton of other sports so it's not like they're taking days off," said Annigeri, who also plays soccer. "We have some big soccer players on the team, and so they're super fast and athletic (and) really good defenders, and then lacrosse players too (who are) constantly moving. So overall, we have a very athletic team."
The Warriors' free throw ladder (similar to a team tennis ladder) is fiercely contested, which also simulates game pressure. Players would rush into Nickerson's office after winning a head-to-head matchup to move their name up the board. Nickerson has ditched large portions of practice time spent on learning offensive sets and dedicated more time to shooting practice. The result: Medfield rolls out entire lineups of sharpshooters. Annigeri and Broderick each shot 43 percent behind that arc on more than 150 attempts apiece, and Tess Baacke was close behind at 39 percent.
About halfway through last season's championship run, Nickerson felt his 1-2-2 press defense was getting stale. He researched new defenses and found a 2-1-2 that, in practice, seemed to protect the basket better. Nickerson taught the press with the allegory of the Blue Angels aerobatic team, explaining that, like those Navy pilots, Medfield would execute this press by being in their spots with very precise timing. Medfield used it in a scrimmage against eventual Division 1 champion Wachusett and thrived.
This year, the 2-1-2 press dominated. Annigeri was at the front, and when her long arms teamed up with those of freshman sister Kameli Annigeri, the duo pestered opposing guards into countless turnovers. When ball-handlers did manage to cross half court, Baacke would lock onto her target from the middle of the press and swoop in to trap on the sidelines. Then the opponent would have to make a tough pass out, often picked off by an Annigeri, Broderick, Meghan Olenik or Paige Henebry.
Medfield's press helped defeat Londonderry (N.H.), 58-45, at the Londonderry Holiday Classic in a game that ultimately didn't count towards the Warriors' final record. Londonderry coach Jon Doherty later asked Nickerson about how it worked. Doherty and Londonderry used that press to defeat arch-rival Bedford and went on to win the NHIAA Division 1 title.
Medfield won every Tri-Valley League game by 20 or more points. The nonleague wins were the statement chances. At the Londonderry Holiday Classic, Medfield dismantled Bedford (N.H.) and its 51-game win streak before turning around and beating Londonderry. The Warriors also met repeat Div. 1 champ Wachusett in the Comcast Tournament championship game, winning their closest matchup of the year, 66-55.
"I just think their reputation (matters). They've gone to state championships before. They have a lot of really good players. It just means a lot to win against that team," Broderick said. "That was a good morale boost going into playoffs, knowing that we beat one of the best teams in the state. We knew that we shouldn't have a problem winning the (state) tournament too."
But entering the Division 2 tournament, the Warriors wanted to show just how much better they were than everyone else. Annigeri, who averaged 5.4 steals per game this season, even felt she wasn't playing her best defense. Before the state final, Medfield went over its press, with Nickerson tying players together using jump ropes.
"The idea is, if you forget to move, it's going to tighten and you're going to go with it. But they move so well together as a group that the jump ropes were kind of a waste of time, truthfully," Nickerson said. "But the concept behind it was just to try to get them to focus on the fact that they're all moving in the same direction and everybody's connected. We always use the concept of 'you're connected by a string.' That's the philosophy."
Annigeri (18.9 points, 3.2 assists per game) captured a third consecutive Tri-Valley League MVP honor, cementing her status as one of Medfield's best players ever. Baacke (10.8 points, 5.6 rebounds) was vital as a defender and rebounder given the Warriors' lack of size. But perhaps no one embodied Medfield's leap this season like Broderick, whose sophomore breakout included leading the team at 19.1 points per game.
If Annigeri got away with a foul in practice against Broderick, she knew that could fire Broderick up. Their battles in the free throw ladder and shooting contests got heated. But Annigeri also credited her for helping raise the Warriors' collective edge. Nickerson called Broderick, who is largely quiet and emotionless on the court, the most competitive player he's ever coached.
"Her competitive spirit definitely makes her the person and the player she is, but we all love that," Annigeri said.
Nickerson just wrapped up his 22nd year of coaching. He's led Medfield to four state titles. He answers immediately that this year's Warriors are his best team ever, rivaled only by the 2013 title-winning squad.
"I've never had a team that could shoot like this — never had a team that really was as quick as this. Defensively, we're just tough to play against because the length is surprising and we're quick," he said.
"We had games in 2013 where they could have gone either way. We didn't really have a game this year that you could say, 'This one could have gone either way.'"
