Drury Girls Advance Past Innovation Academy

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The Drury girls basketball team took care of business in the preliminary round of the Division 5 State Tournament with a big win over Innovation Academy, 50-21, on Tuesday night.

 

Alyssa Russell led the way for the Lady Blue Devils with 19 points, followed by Morgan Sarkis with eight, and Lauren Davis with six. 

 

Coming off of a tough Western Massachusetts Finals loss, Drury was ready to go in the preliminary round of states to build on that momentum they had during the Western Mass. Tournament. Although they fell short they were happy with the games leading up to the finals and it showed in today's game.

 

Drury jumped out to an 18-2 lead to start the night and never looked back. The Blue Devils were hungry and active in passing lanes getting hands on any pass that Innovation Academy tired. This constant pressure led to easy fast break points and the ability to get things moving on the offensive end. Most of their points early on came from good ball movement that unlocked the defense for looks around the rim. 

 

“We talked about using this game to build momentum,” Drury coach Ian Downey said. “When you come off a tough loss like we just had you worry about losing momentum. Up to that game we were on a good run as a team.

 

“We talked about establishing ourselves and getting into transition so we wanted to press and score easy baskets which is what we did in the first half.”

 

Drury held Innovation Academy to just seven points in the first half. It continued the defensive intensity coach Downey talked about and were able to give itself a comfortable, 28-7 lead going into the break. 

 

Second half action saw more of the same thing with Drury being able to rotate players and get the bench some valuable minutes. Drury had eight different players on the score sheet and the ball movement allowed for everyone to get involved. Drury was able to unload the bench in the fourth quarter to give their starters some rest and to see some new faces see some varsity minutes. 

 

“Any time you dress 15 players and can play 15 players it excites you as a coach as well as the fans.” Downey said. “The younger players are the future so as a coach you’re always looking to get younger players in so in a game like this I think it will be important in the future.”

 

Drury will take on the No. 10 Seed Tahanto on the road Thursday night.

 

Photos from this game here.