A solid Lake Braddock 2-3 zone defense held Westfield to one first quarter point, while Bruins senior center Julia Joachim poured in eight in that quarter alone, as Lake Braddock earned a 47-35 home victory over the Bulldogs. It was the season-opener for both teams.
Joachim finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead Lake Braddock while fellow senior Nina Boone added 13. As the Bruins’ talented power forward Alaina Park opted to not play basketball this year, Joachim’s performance was especially encouraging for her team, as she’ll need to carry a greater load down low this season.
“I’m really excited,” Joachim said when asked about the expectations for her and her team going into the season. “Not going to lie, it was easier for me with two posts but hopefully our freshmen will learn and help quickly. We played really well tonight. My friend Nina was right behind me scoring and so was everyone else–that’s how we need to play [as a team].”
Joachim displayed an impressive array of post moves on the block. The Bruins’ team defense was also impressive most of the night as the Bulldogs starters were unable to score a field goal until well into the fourth quarter. Still, Westfield essentially played Lake Braddock even for three quarters–the Bulldogs just couldn’t muster enough firepower to come back from the initial deficit.
They did make things interesting, though, thanks mostly to their bench. 22 of the Bulldogs’ 35 total points came off the pine, with freshman Destiny Baker providing 11 of them. After trailing by double-digits since the first, a nice drive by another freshman, Shreya Sivaram, late in the third quarter got Westfield to within 31-24. But then the Braddock defense tightened again to hold Westfield scoreless for roughly the next five minutes and the outcome was sealed.
On the night the home team held Westfield to a paltry 16% from the field. That’s something the Bulldogs will obviously need to improve upon.
Meanwhile, if that’s the type of defense Lake Braddock will play most of the year, expect the Bruins at a minimum to again challenge for a Patriot District title.
–Chris Jollay
all stats are unofficial
| LAKE BRADDOCK | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| POWELL | 1-3 | 1-2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| JOACHIM | 6-12 | 5-8 | 17 | 10 | 1 | |
| BOONE | 4-7 | 5-6 | 13 | 6 | 1 | |
| THOMAS | 1-7 | 1-4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| J.PARK | 1-6 | 2-4 | 4 | 8 | 1 | |
| Galonis | 0-2 | 4-6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | |
| Gosain | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Drum | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Small | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Laskofski | 0-0 | 2-2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 13-38 | 20-32 | 47 | 35 | 10 | |
| Threes: Powell 1-2, Galonis 0-2, Boone 0-1, Thomas 0-1, J. Park 0-1 | ||||||
| WESTFIELD | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| G. REED | 2-10 | 4-6 | 8 | 10 | 1 | |
| D’ERCOLE | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| PAREDES | 0-7 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| ELOBAID | 0-7 | 2-4 | 2 | 8 | 0 | |
| WILLIAMS | 0-12 | 3-4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | |
| Baker | 4-8 | 3-7 | 11 | 2 | 1 | |
| Masaki | 1-4 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| B. Reed | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |
| Calista | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sivaram | 2-6 | 0-0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ghyzel | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 10-62 | 13-23 | 35 | 33 | 5 | |
| Threes: Masaki 1-4, Ghyzel 1-4, Williams 0-3, Paredes 0-2, D’Ercole 0-1, G. Reed 0-1 | ||||||