Drury's Defense Keys Win over Monument Mountain
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The Drury girls basketball team Thursday used a pair of 11-0 runs to take control of its rematch with Monument Mountain.
For Blue Devils coach Ian Downey, the 0’s were probably the best part of a 56-42 win over the Spartans.
“We’ve been stressing defense a lot at practice, mainly because you never know how you’re going to shoot on any given night,” Downey said. “We didn’t shoot well against [Springfield International Charter School] or at Monument. So, for me, defense doesn’t take nights off.
“We’ve been trying to stress it, and I think the girls are getting it. We have work to do, but I think it gives us energy, gives us momentum and, obviously, we got a few easy baskets out of it.”
A lot of those transition points came early on in Drury’s first big run of the night, an 11-0 spurt in the first quarter to open a 15-6 edge when Morgan Sarkis dropped in a 3-pointer.
It was a 10-point margin at half-time, but Drury stormed out of the locker room with another 11-0 run to push its lead to 21 points.
That stretch started with a putback from Brooke Bishop and included a pair of buckets each from Kayla McGrath (26 points) and Alyssa Russell (14 points).
McGrath also took a charge during the run to keep the Spartans off the board for the first 5 minutes, 42 seconds of the second half.
“As a coach, that’s what you love,” Downey said. “The one thing I’ve been stressing to my team is: effort, effort, effort. As a coach, you can live with a loss as long as you know when you went out on the court, you gave the most effort. Maybe you didn’t make the shots, they didn’t fall that night, but if you’re the team giving the most effort, as a coach, that’s the best thing you can have your team do.”
In addition to her game-high point total, McGrath also had seven steals. Russell and Bishop each stole the ball three times, and Drury forced Monument Mountain into 23 turnovers – 11 in the third quarter alone.
That said, the third quarter also saw the Spartans mount their best run of the night, a 14-1 stretch that spanned the third and fourth quarters.
Natalie Lewis had a pair of 3-pointers in that run on her way to an eight-point night. May Valasco capped the run with a triple early in the fourth to make it 40-32.
Drury’s McGrath helped settle things down, getting fouled in transition and hitting a free throw to stop the run and scoring in the post on the next possession to push the lead back to double digits at 43-32.
Monument Mountain continued to fight, getting a 3 from Evi Higgins (eight points) with about two minutes left to play to make it 47-40.
But Drury used five points from McGrath and 3-for-4 shooting at the foul line by Lauren Davis to put the game away.
“I just told them down in the locker room: At some point during the game, I don’t care who you’re playing, they’re going to punch you,” Downey said. “Do you take the punch and go right back at ‘em? Or do you take the punch and you fold?
“I thought we did a good job of taking multiple punches, really. It was nice to see them compose themselves, stop the run, get the lead back and finish the game.”
Elee Hull led Monument Mountain with nine points.
The Spartans (2-2) are off until they go to Springfield International Charter School on Jan. 4.
Drury (3-1) hosts Hoosac Valley on Monday.