Taconic Girls Finish 'Disappointing' Season with a Win
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- Taconic senior Shalee Conyers left the high school basketball court with a game she will want to remember.
Conyers scored 14 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and passed out three assists Thursday to lead Taconic to a 50-36 win over Drury in the season finale for both teams in Bucky Bullett Gymnasium.
"If that wasn't her best game, it's pretty darn close," Taconic coach Matt Mickle said. "We definitely had a size advantage, so we talked about making sure we controlled the boards. There really was no excuse for us not to with the size we have."
Taconic took control of the game with an 18-2 run to open the third quarter -- turning a four-point deficit into a 27-17 half-time lead.
The visitors went up by as many as 24 in the third quarter when Maddy Quinto put back an offensive rebound, got fouled and completed the conventional three-point play to make it 43-19.
Quinto finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds and three steals in her final appearance in a Taconic uniform. A third senior, Janee Walker, scored 12 points with six boards.
Drury (2-18) got a game-high 18 points and six rebounds from sophomore Brooke DiGennaro, who scored all 13 points in the first quarter to give Drury a 13-9 lead.
"She's a good player," Mickle said of the Drury sophomore. "She works her butt her off, and she's a great shooter. We definitely pay attention to her when she's out there, and I thought the girls did a good job of getting out on her.
"It took us a while to get moving today. I thought we were a little sluggish to start. But the second quarter, I thought we really went out and played well."
Drury said goodbye to six seniors on Thursday, but Blue Devils coach Brian Flagg said he is encouraged for the future and proud of the way his team finished a disappointing season in terms of wins and losses.
"At 2-12, by the time you hit 2-12, it's really easy to put your head down and cash it in," Flagg said. "But you just saw for yourself, they have a lot of pride. They played right to the end. Our goal for the last part of the season was just to have fun and go out and grow together every day.
"We're really excited about what we have coming back in the future."
Like Drury, Taconic (7-13) started the day out of contention for a Western Massachusetts tournament bid. With seven seniors on the roster, including Conyers who did not play in 2015-16, Mickle was left to think about what could have been for a team that went 2-8 in its last 10.
"It was pretty disappointing this year, unforuntately, as far as not getting into the tournament," he said. "I definitely think this team was good enough to make the tournament. But unfortunately, you've got to get 10 wins, and we didn't get 10 wins. They were disappointed. I think we were officially knocked out against Pittsfield High (on Feb. 11), so we've known it for a while. A few games just didn't go our way."