NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Agawam girls basketball team pulled away in the third quarter to take a 45-37 win at Drury on a night when the final score was far from the most important thing.

 

In a heart-breaking week for the Drury girls basketball team and its extended family, the Blue Devils were able to find a little bit of normalcy for a couple of hours in Bucky Bullett Gymnasium.

 

"Emotional night for the Drury family," Blue Devils coach Ian Downey said. "To be honest, I came into the game with zero expectations. With [Sunday's] sudden passing of former player Alison Felix, who was also the sister to current senior captain Jacinta, it has been roller coaster the last couple of days.

 

"In the broad spectrum of life, tonight’s game didn’t matter. But we came out strong, saw glimpses of how good we can be both offensively and defensively. I think the thing that stood out to me the most about tonight’s game was how awesome our community is. It was a random Wednesday night in December. Our gym was packed. I saw so many former players and teammates of Alison that were there. We got through that first half riding the emotions of the crowd."

 

Marlee Montagna scored 13 points, and Isabella Laprise added 12 to lead Agawam, which outscored Drury, 19-6, in the third to take a 36-32 lead.

 

Norah Wood scored 10 points to lead the Blue Devils, who got seven points from Addisyn Shepard and six from Elise Daly.

 

"Unfortunately to start the second half we were running on fumes a bit," Downey said. "But that doesn’t change the fact of how much support Jacinta, her mom, her family and our team received tonight. So thank you everyone from the bottom of my heart for showing up tonight.

 

"Also, shout out to Agawam for being so understanding of the situation. They were great in agreeing to postpone Tuesday's game and allowing tonight to happen."

 

Drury (0-1) hosts Monument Mountain on Friday.