Drury Roars Past Collegiate Charter to Reach Sweet 16
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Drury girls basketball team cruised past Collegiate Charter School of Lowell, 63-36, to advance to the Sweet 16 of the Division 5 State Tournament on Thursday evening.
It was an easy day at the office for the Blue Devils as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead right off the bat.
The Blue Devils were led by Jacinta Felix who scored a game high 19 points. Elise Daly added eight points including the first two baskets of the game, while Ashlyn Hayden and Addisyn Shepard each scored seven. 
Drury did a nice job moving the ball through the zone giving itself whatever they wanted on the offensive end. After scoring six straight they forced Collegiate Charter School of Lowell into an early timeout, but that didn’t stop the Blue Devils as they continued to ramp up their pressure sitting in that 2-2-1 we’ve come accustomed to.
Felix had four steals in the first half alone and really got them going in transition. Drury held Collegiate Charter School of Lowell scoreless for the first 5 minutes of the game giving itself a comfortable 13-0 lead. Drury finished the quarter up 17-6 with no real danger of a comeback.
In the second quarter Drury continued right where they left off in the first with good team basketball breaking down the press with passing. Drury went on to score 35 points in the quarter with 10 different players getting on the scoresheet.
“These types of games are not the most fun to play because everyone wants to play but not everyone can,” Drury coach Ian Downey said. “We just tried to make sure girls that don’t normally get time got some minutes, but at the same time we are still trying to build so we want to make sure our rotational players and starters are doing stuff together working on the press and running the plays and not just being helter skelter which can happen.”
Drury did just that in the second half with a focus of going through the plays and trying to get the ball inside for open layups. It was once again the defense in the third quarter for Drury, holding Collegiate Charter School of Lowell to just four points, giving them a commanding, 47-21 lead. In the fourth quarter the bench came in for more action and the results were the same.
Drury will host No. 9 Lee in the next round. The Wildcats advanced with a 63-25 win over Mahar.
“If you want to make a run in the States you have to be home,” Downey said.” “We’ve spent plenty of time on the road the last few years traveling 2 to 3 hours. It's not fun, it’s not fun to get off the bus and play that game. Being able to play home and not have those long bus rides is important and I’d imagine it played a little factor in tonight's game. Securing home court was important to us in the beginning of the season and we played a schedule to prepare us now so we just have to go out and play Drury basketball.”