NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Drury girls basketball team cruised to victory over Lee, 45-22, on Senior Night on Wednesday.
Drury (7-11) was ready to go from the opening tip and never looked back. The Blue Devils opened the game on an 8-0 run thanks to a quick six from Jacinta Felix, who finished the game with a team-high 12 points and multiple steals. Norah Wood chipped in with 10 and Ashlyn Hayden added eight.
Drury was active on defense right from the start and it really helped them in transition getting easy looks at the rim. Lee was forced into an early timeout, but its offensive struggles continued deep into the first quarter. Lee scored their first basket with just less than 2 minutes left in the quarter and finished with just four total points. Drury scored 14 and more than half came in transition baskets.
“The two ways I want to score are in transition and at the free throw line.” Drury coach Ian Downey said. “Whether a team is playing man or zone the best way to beat it is by pushing it up the court. We wanted to set the tone for the first four minutes and it starts with playing defense and getting stops.”
That message echoed throughout the game as Drury continued to force Lee into careless turnovers allowing, the Blue Devils to push the tempo and keep the big lead throughout the game. Drury took a 25-9 lead into the break and looked like they showed no signs of slowing down.
In the second half, Drury looked to add a new threat on defense, double teaming the ball and speeding Lee up to a pace they were not comfortable with. This defensive pressure combined with good ball movement helped Drury extend the lead even more, holding Lee to just one free throw and no baskets in the quarter.
“As a coach you try to explain to the girls that basketball is pretty simple, all you want to do is reverse the ball and open up the passing lanes against a zone,” Downey said. “We did a good job reversing it and making that one extra pass. Overall I was happy with our defense, we were on a six game losing streak, but it was against six really good teams. Our goal was to play man the whole game and those six games prepared us for that today.”
Drury was able to get some of their younger players in the game for the fourth quarter, which will prove to be important as their young team gets valuable minutes that will only help in the years to come.
Gianna Carlino scored eight points to lead the Wildcats, who got four from Leanna Driscoll.
Lee (11-7) and Drury (7-11) both wait to learn their opponent in the quarter-finals of the Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament.
