By Christopher Tremblay

Growing up the fifth of six children, Erin Reen had a long line of basketball players to follow in her families’ footsteps. With three older sisters and one older brother who all played basketball for Norwood, Reen had a lot of knowledge that she could tap into to improve her game. She also has a handful of cousins who also play the game.

According to Reen, basketball has been in her family for a long, long time; not only did her uncles participate in the sport, but her father coached all of his children through youth basketball.

“I grew up around the sport and have always played,” Reen said. “We even have a half court in our yard so we could play; but as nice as it was to have a court in our yard, I preferred going to the elementary schools playing on their outside courts.”

Having played for the greater part of her life, it wasn’t until the fourth grade when Reen started to play actual games. Between the fourth and eight grades, she played AAU basketball for MPC out of Mansfield and then transitioned to Nex Elite (Braintree) up until the present time. 

With her height at a disadvantage for a basketball player, she gravitated toward point guard, a position she knew what she was capable of doing on the court. Although she found her way onto the varsity team, she knew that in order to be competitive she would have to improve her game; that’s where her older siblings came in handy.

Meghan, who is about four years older, was a great ball handler and Erin knew that was something that she lacked.

“I watched her and her ability to handle the ball was amazing,” Reen said. “It was a skill that I needed to perfect and she taught me a lot.”

In addition to Meghan teaching her ball handling, Erin also picked up something from each of her older siblings. Shannon, the oldest of the Reen children, was a post player with a lot of energy; Kaylin was a great shooter, and Stephen was a leader who possessed an attitude on the court. Learning from her brother and sisters Erin has turned into a well-rounded basketball player for the Mustangs.

Being the fifth of six children left Lauren, a sophomore who plays basketball as well, as the youngest Reen to step on the court. Although having four older siblings, Erin was never able to play on the same high school team with any of them until this year where she’ll suit up with Lauren. She will also be playing with her senior cousin Samantha this year. 

“This is the first time that I get to play with one of my siblings on the high school level,” Reen said. “Lauren and I have a really good connection with one another. We are both point guards and we read one another well on the court. It has been real fun playing with her so far.”

As a four-year player and three-year All-Star, Reen is one that not only loves the game of basketball but seems to absorb everything that her coach tells her, which leads to her ability on the court.

“As a freshman, she was always one of the hardest workers on the court,” Norwood girls basketball coach Amy Quinn said. “She knows what to do, where to go on the floor and why we are doing it. Now as a senior, she just knows and I really don’t have to tell her a thing. She is an amazing individual and one of those kids that is a delight for a coach. She has put everyone on her back, has such a leadership quality to her and the girls love her.”

Quinn continued to say that Reen never comes off the court unless she is hurt or in foul trouble and that is a rare occurrence. She is also a player that doesn’t seem to get the recognition that she deserves. In fact, people have told the Norwood coach that Reen is a special player and is worth the price of admission to watch how hard she plays the game.

During her sophomore season, Reen realized that despite being a very young group the Norwood team had something special going on. In addition to being connected, the team had a great chemistry. The Mustangs went 19-1 that season and were awarded the number one seed in the Division 2 South Tournament. Norwood was able to take out Hanover (52-46 in overtime), and Nauset (57-33) in the first two rounds of the tournament but lost a heart breaker to Hingham (62-57) in the semi-finals. 

While the Hingham loss was tough, Reen and her teammates knew that they’d be back the following year. Unfortunately, Covid was a big issue that year and the junior and her teammates were hit with an abbreviated season of 10 games and no tournament play. Norwood went 8-2 during the shortened season, which hurt even more.

“At first we were all bummed out, but eventually came to the realization that this was going to be the best that we were going to get so we might as well take it as it is and have some sort of a season,” Reen said. “A lot of people were focusing on the negative affect with Covid that year, but we decided to go out and play our game. We ended the season with a positive attitude after going 8-2 and looked forward to this season being back to normal.”

After having their season cut sort and no chance to avenge themselves in the tournament, Norwood found themselves more than ready to play this year. 

“Before our year began, everyone already seemed to be committed and believed in the season’ they all came in ready to play,” the Norwood captain said. “Everyone knew our potential coming into the season and knew that we could do something special this year. It was great to see everyone on the same page and wanting to do well.”

At the time of this writing, the Mustangs were undefeated, but Reen and her teammates knew that this was possible.

 “Prior to the season, we looked at our schedule and saw that we should be in control of a good number of our games,” Reen said. “There were a few difficult games on our schedule (Walpole, Medfield and Hopkinton). If we could be competitive against those teams, then we’d be right where we hoped to be.”

Norwood will get to play all three squads one more time before the regular season comes to an end, but two (Walpole and Hopkinton) of the three would be on the Mustang’s home court. 

“This senior class knows how special this team can be,” the Norwood coach said.  “They are focused and Erin has been great at keeping the team chemistry going. She is a true leader and will not let the team get too anxious.”

In the beginning of her career, Reen was more of a facilitator at the guard position, but as she’s gotten older, she has grown accustomed to also trying to score for the better of the team.

“During my first two years, I was primarily a passer, but the coach wanted me to start shooting more to give us some scoring depth,” the senior said. “While I am now attacking the basket much more, I still love getting the ball to our post players and watching them score.”

Although basketball has always been in her blood, Reen also grew up playing town soccer and during her freshman and sophomore years, played on the volleyball team. This being her senior season, she decided to go back to soccer for one final year.

“During my junior year, I decided to quit volleyball because of Covid and focus on my AAU basketball as I didn’t want to get hurt,” Reen said. “I also thought it would be a good idea to go back to soccer to be with my friends one final year before graduation.”

As the varsity season moves along, Reen, who will be playing basketball for Western New England University in Springfield next winter, is hoping that the team continues to play at a high level and earn a position in the Division 2 South Tournament once again. In order to do this, they plan on staying focused and taking things game by game without looking too far ahead. This team has the talent and would love nothing more than getting back to the tournament and finish what they started two years earlier.