Devils Start Season With Blowout Win
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. —The Drury girls' basketball team got a lot of players involved in its first game of the season. With a first quarter score of 15-0 and a halftime advantage of 25-0, the Blue Devils were able to go deep into their bench in route to defeating New Leadership 48-13 on Friday night.Senior forward Kelsey Ouimet got John Franzoni's club off to a hot start with solid play down low. Her eight points in the first quarter set the tone, paving the way for fellow forward Shannon Garvey to score a team-high 10 points off the bench. Junior guard Mariah Ferrara was a force with her perimeter defense, while also scoring six points on the night for Drury (1-0).
"Our defense keyed a quick start in the first quarter with turnovers forced by our perimeter players, which led to transition points points for us," Franzoni said. "Kelsey Ouimet played a solid interior game in a little over a quarter of game action, and our team did nice a job of limiting New Leadership to one-shot opportunities on each possession."
With the lead stretched out to 37-4 after the third quarter, Franzoni was able to get all of his players involved. Thirteen Blue Devils saw action in all, with 11 of them breaking into the scoring column.
"In order for our team to be successful this season, we will need contributions from a variety of younger players," Franzoni said. "Tonight we were able to get our younger players some quality time on the court and work on things that they will need to in order to contribute this season. Shannon played very well inside, and Mariah played aggressively on both end of the court."
Drury next plays Lenox at home at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.