February 26, 2025 – Story and photos by Joshua Ross
Hingham girls basketball recorded their first win in the playoffs last night since beating Marshfield back in the 2021/22 season in the round of 32.
The 28th ranked Harborwomen hosted 37th ranked Bay Path RVT in a play-in game. The girls are coming off a strong week at the Annual Weymouth Tournament where they beat Boston Latin 68-34 on Monday and lost to a very good Archbishop Williams team 69-64 in OT on Tuesday. In the Archies game, they came back from a 12-point fourth quarter deficit to force OT led by sophomore Kate McBride who score a career highs with seven 3-pointers and 29 total points.
After the tournament, Head Coach Roland Millien explained the progression of his team from the start of the season to now.
“I think one of the biggest things in our progression is we start to trust each other and we trusted each other a little bit more,” stated Millien. “We trusted each other on defense, we trusted each other offensively, we were in the right position. Sometimes the ball didn’t go in, but once they saw that the next person next to them was trusting, then they started to trust. And that’s that’s how we’ve been able to build off of that.”
That trust is important with Millien’s coaching style of rotating in players frequently. In most games, all 13 of his players will see some playing time. It’s not unusual to have more than eight or nine players on the score sheet. Last night, it was 11 out of the 13.
Even though the playoff jitters showed for the first quarter and a half, the Harborwomen settled in and found the formula that has worked best for them, moving the ball on offense and lock-down defense. With the score tied at 11 after the first quarter, Hingham got back to their game and took a 29-18 lead into halftime. Shots started falling in the second half and the Harborwomen ran away with a 63-44 win.
Sophomore Eileen Lowther is a having monster season. Millien calls her the “most gifted shot blocker” he’s ever coached, including a couple of seven footers at the collegiate level. She’s averaging over five blocks a game and disrupts opponent’s offenses anywhere near the paint. Last night, Millien encouraged her to shoot more and she ended up with a game high 16 points. Four others – senior captain Caroline Connolly and sophomores Lila Sweeney, Kate McBride and Kylie McAloon all had eight points.
Senior captain Ava Surgue agrees the girls might have been a little nervous starting the game but settling in as the game went on.
“Definitely in the first quarter,” Surgue explained. “We should have taken a lead, I think, been a little bit more aggressive, but we definitely picked it up by the end and started to have fun and get back into it. I’m excited for North Quincy on Friday.”
Surgue credits a “good team camaraderie” for the team’s success the past few weeks and the reason why they get contributions from everyone during the games. However, she would like to see Lowther be a bit more selfish on the offensive side.
“ She keeps dishing it out. We were telling her to shoot more, but she’s so unselfish with the ball.”
The girls will travel to the 5th seeded North Quincy team on Friday night. In their only meeting of the season on 1/21, Hingham lost 61-46. But this is a different, more confident Harborwomen team who has averaged 63 points a game and only allowed 49 points in their last three games. The girls have a good shot of winning on Friday if they continue their aggressive defense and make plays on offense like they’ve been doing for the past week and half.
