Following Medfield capturing the MIAA Division 2 championship last March, coach Mark Nickerson told reporters in Tsongas Center he didn't think his young team to be this good, this fast — but that everyone should watch out next year.
Nickerson's excitement has only grown in the months since.
"My expectations are: This should be one of the best teams I've ever had," said Nickerson, who enters his 21st year of coaching.
The Warriors are in the MIAA's top tier ahead of 2024-25, returning most of a core that exceeded hype by going 23-2 and taking down an experienced Worcester South team in the Div. 2 title bout. The energy around the program is contagious; Nickerson loves seeing girls who are not yet on the team wearing state championship gear around the community.
Here's what to watch for when Medfield sets out on its championship defense.
What's next for the star young trio?
Three underclassmen powered the Warriors last season: 2027 guard Naya Annigeri and 2026 wings Tess Baacke and Izzy Kittredge.
Annigeri's freshman season was remarkable. The 5-foot-8 guard won Tri-Valley League MVP, nearly reached 50-40-90 shooting splits, and scored a game-high 16 points in the championship game. Nickerson, a middle school physical education teacher in Medfield, didn't know Annigeri would be this good right away, but he noticed her coming up the ranks.
"I'd see her playing in our class, and she was as good as anybody on the court — I mean, guys or girls," he said. "I watched her play 1-on-1 against some of the best guy players in middle school, when she was in middle school, and she could just destroy them. So it was fun to watch."
How can Annigeri improve upon such an efficient first year? Nickerson doesn't have an immediate answer. He says there's always room for defensive growth, and he wants to see his player make even quicker passing decisions.
"Truthfully, a freshman who showed that she could handle the pressure of what I thought was a team that was really aggressive, especially initially, in Worcester South — and in that environment, at that age — I don't know what else I can ask her to do," he said. "But certainly you always want to get a little stronger, you always try to be a little faster, and you can always play a little bit better defense."
It wasn't just about Annigeri. Baacke's two-way impact as a lockdown defender and driving scorer gave Medfield critical sparks throughout the season. Kittredge, a 6-foot sharpshooter who plays like a wing, emerged as an offensive weapon. Nickerson has high hopes for her future even beyond Medfield.
"It's huge, and certainly, to move a step beyond us first — her game translates really well to the next level," he said. "If I'm a college coach and I got a 6-foot, 6-foot-1 player that can shoot threes, and she can go to the hoop too, that's really attractive. (She) can guard a number of different players, is relatively quick — she's a game changer for us, but I see her being real helpful to somebody at the next level, too."
Abby Broderick is a breakout freshman to watch
The Warriors will have to replace some graduated rotation players, including Annie Stanton, Sadie Cumming and Mary Palladino. Annigeri's older sister, Jailen, could step into a larger role.
But Abby Broderick is the new name to know. A 5-foot-10 freshman, Broderick can already shoot and handle the ball at a high level, and she follows Medfield's theme of versatile offensive players. Nickerson believes she could quickly join the starting lineup and become one of the best players on the roster.
"It'll be interesting to see her play at the speed of the game that we play at, but skill-wise, she's as good as I've seen in a long time," he said.
Setting the tone
Medfield historically thrives on building early leads. The Warriors swarm defensively and push for quick transition buckets to build a gap and demoralize opponents. Of Medfield's 23 wins last year, 21 were by double digits, many of them starting with a first-half surge. The Warriors jumped out to a 16-7 lead in the Div. 2 final that helped them win, 48-42.
"It's really important for us to get off to good starts," Nickerson said. "I think for most teams that we play, if we can get off to a good start, we're going to have them beat before the first quarter ends, because most teams will come in thinking that they can compete with us, and we need to show them early on that they can't."
Medfield also put up high point totals while leaning on a balanced offense. Annigeri led the team in scoring at just 13.7 points per game, and Kittredge followed her at 10.6.
Nickerson thinks that in today's amateur basketball climate — where social media highlights buckets and stats, and players want to impress college coaches — the natural inclination is to lean towards self-serving basketball. He knows several of his players have college aspirations and that they sacrifice on the stat sheet to play unselfishly. Winning games can help keep the spotlight on them.
"Their stats aren't going to blow you out of the water, and that's why, for them, us winning is critical," Nickerson said. "It's critical for us to be playing well into the playoffs and well into the state tournament, and playing in a state championship game is huge for them so that more people get to see them play."
