Wahconah's Defense, Balanced Scoring Stop Granby

DALTON, Mass. -- Between injuries and early foul trouble, the Wahconah girls basketball team needed its bench to step up.

 

It was more than up to the challenge.

 

Maria Gamberoni scored 10 points and passed out four assists, and Wahconah’s stifling defense held Granby to 10 points through three quarters en route to a 48-19 win.

 

“I thought our three reserves did a great job when the rest of the kids were a little out of rhythm,” Wahconah coach Liz Kay said.

 

“A lot of people are in the same boat [with injuries]. Granby had a guard out who is going to be out through mid-January who would have made a tremendous difference for them. But it enables other kids to step up.

 

“Morgan [Marauszwski] and Becca [Morris] and Jordyn [Gagliardi], who haven’t seen a lot of varsity minutes before this year are getting a lot of minutes, too. That’s good for them, and it’s just going to make us better.”

 

Nine different players got into the scoring column for Wahconah (1-1). Noelle Furlong and Abigail Steinman scored eight apiece, and sophomore Marauszwski scored seven.

 

Wahconah struggled to score early, but its defense was enough to take a 10-4 lead after one quarter.

 

It was 11-5 early in the second quarter when Jillian Cote picked up her third foul at the defensive end.

 

Kay tried to get a sub into the game for her, but that player ended up waiting at the scorer’s table. Meanwhile Cote ended up contributing to a 9-0 run that gave Wahconah its first big working margin of the night.

 

She had a rebound at one end of the floor and a bucket in transition at the other during that stretch. The run included a Marauszwski 3-pointer and basket in the post from Steinman on an assist from Marauswski.

 

It was 21-5 at half-time, and Wahconah’s offense just got more efficient in the second half, when Gamberoni scored seven of her points. Meanwhile, Furlong had four second-half steals to go along with her eight points and nine rebounds.

 

“I thought Abby [Steinman] had a great second half,” Kay said. “I thought she was a little passive in the first half, but she responded incredibly well and really got in there and dug in in the second half.”

 

Granby got nine second-half points from Nora Young, who finished with 14 in the game, a year after scoring 24 in a Rams win over Wahconah.

 

“I think that’s Abby,” Kay said. “I think a big piece of that was she really anchored a lot of what we did in the third quarter, and she stepped up.

 

“That’s a good thing for us, because, obviously, she is our inside presence. So it was good to see her get more aggressive.”

 

Wahconah travels to Drury on Tuesday night.