Late Three Lifts Monument Over Drury
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass — In a back-and-forth game which featured plenty of solid defensive play, Jen Begley's 3-pointer with five seconds remaining in overtime made all of the difference in a 43-40 win for the Monument Mountain girls' basketball team over Drury on Friday night.Four seconds after Blue Devils forward Kelsey Ouimet tied the game with a putback off of an offensive rebound, the Spartans quickly moved the ball up the court, where point guard Laura Ann Dinan (12 points) found Begley all alone on the left wing. Begley let it rip and swished a shot from downtown, giving Monument (12-6) the small edge it needed to prevail in a game featuring two evenly matched teams. Drury, which fell to 12-7 with the loss, edged the Spartans by just one point in a game in North Adams last month.
The game was a typical close encounter between two teams that have played in three overtime games over the past two seasons. Led by the strong inside play of Ouimet, who scored eight of her game-high 18 points in the first quarter, the Blue Devils jumped out to a slim 12-10 lead after the first eight minutes of play. The hosts responded in the second quarter, however, outscoring Drury 13-6 in the frame to go into halftime up 23-18.
John Franzoni's squad came out of the break with a vengeance, though, scoring the first eight points of third quarter to open a three-point cushion. Monument then rallied back to retake the lead, holding it all the way until the end of the fourth quarter, when Blue Devils forward Meagan McCarthy (eight points, nine boards) scored on a runner down the lane to tie the game at 38 all with 9.6 seconds left in regulation.
Drury had a couple of tough calls go against them in the overtime period, including a possible 3-point play by point guard Danielle Racette which was waived off in favor of a traveling call, but give credit to the Spartans, who held the visitors to just two points in the extra frame and made the big shot at the end.
"I told the kids we have to learn from this," Franzoni said. "We went up by three points in the third quarter, and we didn't take advantage of that situation. We held them scoreless the first three minutes of overtime, so we had some situations we needed to take advantage of. It's not like anything was easy. We had some chances to make shots, and we just didn't do that.
"I was really proud of our kids for their defensive effort tonight and for the way they fought back. We have to learn from this so when were in the tournament, we don't end our season like this."
In addition to scoring a season high in points, Ouimet also added a team-high 12 rebounds on the night. Racette finished with eight points, while fellow guard Cassie Lincoln chipped in with six points, eight rebounds and six assists. Junior Sarah Mills led the way with 14 points for Monument, which held a decisive 18-5 advantage in foul shots on the night. The Spartans made the most of their opportunities, making 14 free throws on the night, while the Blue Devils missed all five of their attempts.
Drury closes out the regular season with a road game against Wahconah at 7:30 p.m. Monday night.