Melrose Lady Raiders Basketball

The Girls' Basketball season is just around the corner, as the Lady Raiders open up Tuesday, hosting Watertown, with Division I scholarship player Brittany Obi-Tabot. Tabot averaged nearly twenty points a game last season, despite facing double and triple teams.

Melrose returns a veteran team, coming off a 16-5 season and a tough loss to Lincoln-Sudbury in the first round last season. As they are every season, expectations are high, with the shared 'core' of the team moving off the volleyball court and onto the basketball court. Returning starters Hannah Brickley, Colleen Hanscom, Laura Irwin (ankle injury), and Siena Mamayek look to recapture the Middlesex League title, with Nicole Meuse and Annemarie Wiesen battling for the final starting position.

Tom Hellen profiles some of the preseason top players here, including several Melrose returnees.

Stoneham, which split with Melrose last season, and Reading, last year's ML champion figure to be roadblocks that the Lady Raiders will need to overcome. Lexington also has been a consistent competitor, using height and the slowdown game to frustrate teams. Winchester came on late last season, and looks to attack using the three.