Emily Moulton, Drury Girls Top Monument
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Drury High School girls basketball team picked the right time to take its time. 
After looking ragged at times on offense much of the night, the Blue Devils committed just one fourth-quarter turnover in a 47-42 win over Monument Mountain on Friday night.
Emily Moulton scored 13 points, including five in the fourth quarter, and the Blue Devils (8-8) outscored the Spartans 12-5 in the last four minutes to win their third straight.
"For a while, I thought, in the third, we lost our composure -- really starting midway through the second," Drury coach Jay Meehan. "Sometimes we get a little carried away and lose our poise and composure."
Monument (4-10) used a 14-1 run at the end of the second quarter to erase an 11-point lead and take a 25-23 advantage into half-time.
Drury had just one foul shot from about the five-minute mark of the second quarter until Morgan Lamarre set up Emily Moulton for a long two with 2:45 left in the third -- a drought of 10 minutes, 15 seconds without a field goal.
Fortunately for the Blue Devils, their defense and rebounding kept the Spartans from running away with the game.
Moulton and Olivia Carlson combined for 26 rebounds, and Drury's press gave Monument fits in the first half.
Meehan was not able to put the press on in the second half because circumstances did not allow it.
"With certain lineups, it's tough for us to press, and we tried to keep everybody fresh, so we tried a lot of different combinations," he said.
Monument likewise was forced to use a variety of combinations, especially when the fouls started to mount. Two Spartans fouled out of the game, and a third ended with four fouls.
"We mixed and matched a little bit, and we had some people playing out of position," Monument coach Chris Unsworth said. "They just did [the second quarter comeback] on being gutty -- taking the ball strong to the basket and playing good defense.
"I was just really proud of what they did."
Kayla Aberdale had two big 3-pointers in the second for Monument on her way to an 18-point night.
She hit another 3 in the third to give the Spartans their biggest lead, 28-23.
After Emily Moulton's field goal from just inside the arc got the Blue Devils within three, Molly Moulton tied it with a triple to make it 28-28.
Drury ended up with a one-point lead after three quarters, and the teams traded baskets in the early stages of the fourth.
Aberdale put back an offensive rebound to give Monument its last lead of the night, 36-35.
At the other end, junior Heather Morris put back a rebound for two of her eight points to put Drury back on top.
"I thought Heather Morris gave us a huge lift off the bench," Meehan said. She's one of those kids who comes every day, works hard. She'd probably like to play more, and maybe she should start playing more.
"I'm proud of her. I'm proud of all of them, but I'm proud of Heather."
After an Aberdale free throw knotted the game a final time at 37-37 with 3:04 on the clock, Emily Moulton drove the lane to give Drury a lead it never relinquished.
Drury managed just 10-for-25 foul shooting on the night and missed three front ends of one-and-ones in the first half, but the Devils went 6-for-10 at the line down the stretch to seal it. Emily Moulton and Carlson each went 3-for-4 at the stripe from the 2:25 mark on.
Drury travels to Pittsfield on Tuesday. Monument goes to Lee on Wednesday.