Wahconah Comes Back for Overtime Win over Drury

By Rick DuteauiBerkshires.com Sports
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - The Wahconah girls basketball team rallied from a big deficit to claim a 49-43 overtime victory over the host Drury Blue Devils on Tuesday night.
 
Despite trailing by double digits at halftime, Wahconah (2-1) made some nice adjustments to get things going the its way in the second half.
 
“It was a couple of changes, a lot of great effort and a couple of big shots made, so it feels pretty good,” said Wahconah coach Liz Kay. “A lot of it was just mentally changing a couple of things. We were kind of passive in the first half and I thought we were more aggressive in the second half. We switched defenses to get some energy, and these guys did a great job of executing. I am just so proud of them. It was a really, really gutsy performance.”
 
Wahconah found much better rhythm offensively in the second half, after struggling to get shots to fall for much of the first half of play. Thanks to more ball movement and some outside shots falling, it opened the floor up and left the inside lanes open for attack.
 
“For some of the kids, they didn’t have shots falling early, but they didn’t let it get into their heads. They made some really big shots down the stretch,” Kay said. 
 
Leading the way was sophomore Maria Gamberoni, who tallied a game-high 26 points. The speedy guard connected for five 3-pointers, including three in the third quarter, and she scored the go-ahead basket on an open runner with 2:30 remaining in overtime.
 
“The team just came together and was more positive in the second half than the first half, and that helped a lot,” Maria said. “We were driving the gaps and kicking it, and swinging it. Our shooters were ready and they spotted up, so that helped a lot too. It’s a great feeling. At halftime Coach had to pull our whole team together, and the captains pulled us together as well, and they told us to start attacking on offense.”
 
Maria got that started with a 3-pointer to open the scoring for Wahconah in the second half. The Blue Devils (1-2) had just pulled out with their largest lead at 27-14 on Laura Thomas’ putback layup to begin the scoring in the second half, but slowly the momentum began to shift from there. Drury focused inside with Thomas and Tessa Zoito, while Wahconah swung passes around the world to eventually land into the hands of open shooters. Along with a nice triple late in the third from Morgan Marauszski, Maria Gamberoni also connected for two more treys that helped trim the Drury lead.
 
The visitors continued to hit open 3s in the final quarter to eventually force overtime. Thomas again put Drury ahead by double digits with a layup that made it 37-26, before excellent ball movement led to a 3-pointer from Maria Gamberoni and another from Marauszski. With more space to operate now offensively, Maria then drove uncontested to the hoop for the next basket, and Noelle Furlong got into the action by draining a 3 that tied things up at 37-37 with 2:30 left in regulation.
 
“We get a lot of energy from our defense,” Kay said. “With some adjustments, that really made our offense more confident. Generally speaking, that is the kind of team that we are; we get a lot of energy from our defense.”
 
The final minutes of the game were as exciting as any. Maria Gamberoni and Drury’s Brooke DiGennaro both traded 3-pointers, and then the Blue Devils went ahead again as Zoito fed Alison Felix to the hoop for an uncontested layup. Furlong answered back by draining a 3 from deep in the corner to move Wahconah back in front, and Zoito sunk one-of-two free throws to tie things back up, after she was fouled on a putback attempt with twenty seconds left in the fourth.
 
Wahconah then completed the comeback by shutting out the Blue Devils 6-0 in overtime. Besides Maria’s decisive layup, she also made a free throw in the clinching moments, while Furlong connected for another 3-pointer to close with 12 points on the night.
 
Having fought so hard and having delivered such a valiant effort, the hope is that the loss will still bring the Blue Devils many positives to use as building blocks. Drury coach Ian Downey admitted that conditioning may have caught up to the team late, after it got out to such a fast-paced start. But the team looks forward to reviewing the game film and learning how to make the necessary corrections.
 
“Obviously you never want to lose and it’s disappointing, but our team has not played a lot of one-possession games and we need to learn how to win,” Downey said. “Unfortunately, sometimes when you are learning how to win, you lose. Wahconah has played plenty of those types of games and they are used to it. But we aren’t used to it yet. We called out plays but we weren’t as crisp as usual and we just got a little razzled, that is what it comes down to.”
 
Downey noted how Berkshire County provides plenty of games like that, and the more of them that Drury plays the better it will be for it.
 
“It’s OK to lose tonight’s game, as long as it translates to wins the rest of the season,” Downey said. “We have seventeen games left to use this as motivation. We went toe-to-toe all game with Wahconah, and that needs to be used as confidence to know you can beat anyone, regardless of who you are playing.”
 
DiGennaro led the Blue Devils as the only member of the club in double digits, as she had 14 points, two steals and two assists. Laura Thomas added eight points and six rebounds, while Tessa Zoito, Hayley Shook and Alison Felix all had six points each.
 
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