LYNN – Dracut senior guard Ashlee Talbot placed on a efficiency Sunday afternoon on the Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium that left lots of the followers watching shaking their heads but applauding on the similar time.
Talbot ripped aside Newburyport’s protection to the tune of 31 first half factors, 45 in all, because the Middies rolled to a 78-62 win in a battle of two of the highest 10 ranked Div. 2 groups in Massachusetts. Dracut’s reward for getting previous the Clippers? A date with host St. Mary’s on Tuesday evening (5:45).
The Spartans struggled for a half with a pesky Lincoln-Sudbury squad however because of 23 factors from Niya Morgen and 13 from fellow senior Yirsy Queliz, St. Mary’s exploded for 39 second-half factors en path to a 58-36 win over the Warriors.
In the primary semifinal, it rapidly turned obvious that Talbot was in a kind of uncommon moments the place all the pieces she threw up appeared to need to discover nothing however internet.
She started the sport with back-to-back threes because the Middies (15-5) opened up an early seven-point lead. And she was simply getting warmed up.
After Newburyport (16-3) shaved the result in three at 10-7, Talbot and teammate Emma Felker (20 factors) acquired sizzling from behind the arc as their 4 three-pointers prolonged the result in 28-16 after eight minutes.
The Clippers might have simply been run out of the fitness center by halftime if not for the efforts of senior ahead Emma Foley. Her 14 first-half factors helped maintain the Clippers in shouting distance as Talbot added 13 extra factors within the second quarter and Dracut took a 46-28 lead into the locker room at halftime.
“Ashley is such an elite player,” Dracut coach Peter Witts mentioned. “She does a lot for us at both ends of the floor.”
Dracut constructed the result in 49-30 on a Talbot three-point play with 7:30 left within the third earlier than the Clippers cranked up the defensive stress and labored their approach again into the sport.
Foley, who completed with 30 factors, put up eight factors and Olivia McDonald hit two of her 4 three-pointers as a part of a 16-4 run in a bit over 4 minutes that reduce the deficit to 53-46.
“I thought that we came out a little flat in the third and Newburyport really played hard,” Witts mentioned.
But simply as fast because the Clippers had reduce the result in single digits, the Middies retook management. Talbot and Brodie Gannon hit treys to shut out the third earlier than Felker and Talbot scored seven of the following 11 factors to shut a 13-4 run that made it 66-50.
From there, Dracut was capable of cruise residence because the Clippers acquired no nearer than 13 the remainder of the best way.
“We were able to play with some poise and passion down the stretch,” Witts mentioned.
In the second semifinal, the Warriors (14-5) acquired the Spartans (17-2) to play their tempo for a lot of the opening 16 minutes. After St. Mary’s jumped out to a 9-1 lead, L-S rallied with a 10-1 run of its personal to guide 11-10 on Katie Rapisarda’s three.
The defensive rock battle continued within the second quarter as each groups struggled to get some offensive continuity. Fortunately for the Spartans, they’d Niya Morgen’s means to bury pictures as her third 3-pointer of the quarter got here as time ran out to present the Spartans a 19-18 lead on the break.
“The first half was played at the pace that they wanted,” St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall mentioned. “And we kind of allowed it to happen. Fortunately, we had Niya hitting some shots that kept us in the game.”
The third quarter can be a a lot completely different story because the Spartans protection started to present the Warriors matches, ensuing within the momentum of the sport squarely turning in the direction of St. Mary’s.
Kellyn Preira, who was scoreless within the first half, scored all 9 of her factors within the third whereas Yirsy Queliz teamed along with her to place collectively an 11-4 run to start the half and open up a 32-22 lead.
The Warriors can be held to only seven factors within the third and when Jillian Roberts beat the buzzer with one other three, St. Mary’s had issues in management with a 42-25 lead.
Morgen added 9 extra factors within the fourth because the lead grew to 22 earlier than each groups emptied the benches.
Source: www.bostonherald.com