Tony's Electric, Moonlight Win Giorgi League Titles
Wehner scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Tony’s Electric/At Home TLC/Flynn & Dagnoli to a 37-36 overtime win over Teddy’s Pizza in the Women’s Division finale at Noel Field.
In an Open Division final that started under the stars and ended inside the North Adams Armory, Kordana scored 36 points -- 21 from behind the arc -- to lead Moonlight Diner to a 66-54 win over Boys and Girls Club.
The opener was the kind of defensive battle that Wehner expected.
“With Teddy’s Pizza, they have Hollie [Steinman] and Meredith [Sullivan] down low, and those two are super physical,” Wehner said. “For me and Kelsey [Ouimet], we’ve really got to work on our box outs and push them out. And when we get that ball, we’ve really got to hold onto it and squeeze it.
“It’s always a battle with them. We’re both physical, especially in the paint. Even on drives, they drive hard and they draw the foul. For us tonight, rebounding was key, and we battled through it.”
It was a back-and-forth game all night with neither side leading by more than five, a margin Teddy’s matched twice, the last time on the first basket of the second half when Ashley Cirillo connected from the elbow to make it 18-13.
Wehner answered with a 3-pointer to get Tony’s within a bucket and a basket in the post to tie it.
She hit the front end of a one-and-one with 42 seconds left to give her team a 30-27 lead, but Teddy’s was able to answer.
First, Kim Conant was fouled attempting to put back an offensive rebound and converted one of her shots to make it 30-28. Then with the final seconds ticking away, Courtney McLaughlin (team-high 12 points) scored in transition to tie it and send the game to overtime.
Much of the scoring in overtime came at the foul line, where Teddy’s went 4-for-6 and Tony’s went 2-for-2.
Steinman (nine points, 14 rebounds) scored in transition to give Teddy’s a 35-32 lead in the last minute, but Wehner put back an offensive rebound on the next possession for Tony’s.
McLaughlin hit a free throw with 18 seconds left to make it a two-point game, setting the stage for a dramatic 3 by Yvette Amakor as time ran out to win it.
The Open Division final was nearly as tight for most of the game.
Kordana had 13 points and Geoff Kondel had 12 at half-time to lead Moonlight to a 28-23 lead.
It was 30-25 early in the second when the rain started to fall, forcing league commissioner Al Giorgi to send the festivities across town to the Armory.
“It’s a lot easier to play in the gym,” Kordana said. “Playing outside all year, definitely you go through your struggles. And then you come inside, and it’s a lot easier playing in the gym.”
Kordana opened the inside portion of the game with a drive from the right wing to make it 32-25.
But Boys and Girls Club hunt tough, taking a 35-34 lead with about 10:30 left when Taverick “Tank” Roberson (team-high 27 points) scored in transition.
But Moonlight went on a 13-0 run that featured three Kordana 3-pointers to take a 47-35 lead with 7:46 on the clock and never looked back.
Roberson was able to get his team within seven points on three occasions, but Moonlight kept Boys and Girls Club at arm’s length.
Kondel finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds as Moonlight defended its 2016 league title.
“We don’t have one selfish soul on this team,” Kordana said. “Everyone has the same goal, and it’s to win. That’s what we do. We’ve done it two years in a row now.”
