Drury defense clamps down in win over Lenox
NORTH ADAMS -- The Drury girls' basketball team brought one half of its game to the first round of the Gene Wein Holiday Tournament on Tuesday night. The Blue Devils better find the other half as well if they plan on winning the championship game tomorrow night.
John Franzoni's club didn't look to smooth on offense, but it did everything right on defense, holding Lenox to just 10 points in each half en route to a 34-20 victory in the second game of the Gene Wein Tournament. Wahconah took down Mount Greylock in the first game of the four-team tourney held at Bucky Bullett Gymnasium, setting the stage for a Blue Devils-Warriors' championship matchup at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday night.
Although his team struggled to knock down open shots all night, Franzoni was more than pleased with the effort on defense. Two weeks after giving up a season-high 44 points in a loss to the Millionaires, Drury (4-1) avenged it's only defeat by cutting that total more than in half. Lenox's Jaclyn Gigliotti (14 points) and Kathy Prescott (six points) combined for 20 points in the win the first time around but were held scoreless on Tuesday night. Blue Devils' guards Cassie Lincoln and Morgan Lamarre teamed up to shut down Prescott, while Meagan McCarthy, Ali Tatro and Danielle Racette combined to limit Gigliotti.
"That was definitely our best defensive game we've played all year," Franzoni said. "I thought every shot was contested, we limited them to one shot and I thought we did a good job of winning the battle on the boards. We were just more aggressive and more tough, and it just goes to show that we're a better team than we were two weeks ago."
Drury clung to a 7-4 lead after the first quarter, but closed out the second frame with a quick 10-0 run, turning a tie game into a 20-10 lead at halftime. Junior Lyndsey DeGrenier came off the bench to spark the offense with six points in the first half, while Lincoln netted five points to go along with a number of timely assists. The Blue Devils scored the first six points of the second half and stretched their lead to 26-14 heading into the fourth quarter. Racette was all over the floor the entire game, jumping into passing lanes and coming away with a number of steals. She led the team with eight points, while McCarthy added six more in addition to pulling down a team-high 10 rebounds.
"We called a timeout and told the girls that we needed to take better care of the basketball," Franzoni said of his team's 10-0 run before halftime. "Our defense was playing well at that point. We had to take advantage of our opportunities to score, and we weren't doing that. We have to do a better job of finishing off of turnovers in transition. We know we got away with it tonight, but we have to finish better tomorrow, obviously, to have a chance to beat Wahconah."
Hayden Zinchuk scored eight points to lead the Millionaires, while teammate Megan Babich helped out with six points off of the bench.
Aliah Curry scored a game-high 16 points in Wahconah's 41-31 win over Mount Greylock, which received 15 points from Sarah Brink in a losing effort. The Mounties will meet up against Lenox in the consolation game, starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night.