Warriors Exact Their Revenge Against Blue Devils
NORTH ADAMS -- There is a big difference between the Wahconah girls' basketball team and the New York Jets, but the one thing that they do share this season is the motivation to prove themselves after a blowout loss.Just like the Jets, who came back to beat the New England Patriots in the playoffs after suffering a 45-3 defeat to them in the regular season, the Warriors had revenge on their mind on Friday night following a 30-point shellacking at the hands of Drury in the championship game of the Gene Wein Holiday Tournament last month.
Blue Devils' head coach John Franzoni had some concerns about the rematch, and his worries proved to be true as Wahconah came into Bucky Bullett Gymnasium and walked out with a decisive 46-24 win, holding the hosts to their lowest scoring output of the season in the process. The Warriors, who improved their overall record to 9-2, were simply too good to lose by 30 points in the first meeting. The two games couldn't have been any different, as Drury (8-3) scored a season-high 61 points the first time around, followed by a season-low 24 in the second meeting between the two teams this season.
"I just didn't think we played with the same energy and emotion that we played with in the first game," Franzoni said. "When things didn't go our way tonight instead of coming together as a team and finding a way to get it done, we went around looking for calls. You can't do that. You have to play with toughness in a game like this. You have to play with energy and as a team, and we just didn't do that tonight."
Wahconah improved its game in two key areas from the last meeting; half-court defense and rebounding. The visitors started strong on offense, jumping out to an 11-1 lead after the first quarter and taking a 24-9 edge into the locker room at halftime. The Warriors were particularly effective against Drury forwards Kelsey Ouimet and Meagan McCarthy, who combined for 19 points and 19 rebounds in the first matchup. On friday night, the two senior captains combined for 0 points, two missed free throws and nine boards.
The Blue Devils finally got some positive things going in the third quarter, making a mini-run to get within 11 points at one point. Wahconah never really hit a drought on offense, though, and put the game away by holding Drury to just two points in the fourth quarter. In the first and fourth quarter combined, the hosts managed just three points on offense. Guard Sarah Whitestone was the leading scorer for the Warriors, hitting two 3-pointers and finishing with 14 points on the night. Wahconah also got a great effort from Gabby Lavinio with 10 points off the bench, while forward Sara Hamilton chipped in with nine points.
"The key was we cut it down to 33-22, and we needed to get a stop," Franzoni said. "[Kelcie] Yarmey hit a big 3-point play and that pushed the lead back up to 36-22. That's a play where we have to suck it up and find a way to try to get through it, but when she made that 3-point play we just lost all of our emotion and you can't do that."
Perhaps the key stat of the night was the discrepancy between foul shots. Any indication of who was the more aggressive and determined team should be seen in the fact that the Warriors were 15 of 22 from the free-throw line, while the Blue Devils were just 3 of 7.
"In order to get calls, you have to go up strong and finish," Franzoni said. "We were playing away from the contact instead of going up strong into the contact. If you don't play the game strong, you're not going to get calls. We always say that the more aggressive team gets the calls, and they were more aggressive tonight. They got the calls, and they earned it."
No Drury player scored in double digits. Senior point guard Cassie Lincoln shook off a sloppy first-half performance to come back strong with nine points in the second half. She added four rebounds and one assist to lead the hosts, while Ali Tatro also had solid game, running the floor well and scoring six points off of the bench.
The Blue Devils will get a chance to shake off this loss quickly when Monument Mountain comes to Bucky Bullett for a key North Division game on Monday night.