Diller, Wildcats Upset Drury in State Tournament
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Lee girls basketball team outlasted Drury in a nail-biting overtime win, 55-53, to advance to the quarter-finals of the Division State Tournament on Tuesday.
It was an instant classic between these two Berkshire County teams as the Lee girls basketball team was able grind out the win in true March Madness fashion.
Mika Diller led the way for the Lee Wildcats with 15 points, while Kenzie Garrity scored 11 and Mia Puleri nine.
It was a game of runs for both of these teams as they looked to inch one step closer to a State Title. Drury was able to get off the mark first, starting the game on a 5-0 run. It came as no surprise the Drury pressure played a part in this one early, forcing Lee Into uncharacteristic turnovers.
“We talked about it before the game that we needed to survive the first five minutes of the game. We knew Drury was going to come out strong, they are a good team and we just had to stay the course.” Lee coach Rick Puleri said.
Those wise words from the coach were exactly what Lee ended up doing thanks to the long ball. Lee knocked down three triples late in the quarter to give itself a 14-12 lead. Lee’s Mika Diller got things going with a nice and-one finish to set them up for a 7-0 run. Diller was a problem on the glass all night for Drury, and it started to turn into points early in the second quarter.
Drury’s Eva Moser took a page out of Lee’s book with an offensive rebound of her own ending the drought for Drury. The Blue Devils then got a steal from Jacinta Felix and a basket to flip the momentum and then a deep 3-pointer from Hannah LaCasse at the buzzer to give them a 24-23 lead going into the break. Drury finished the half on a 12-2 run.
Second half action saw both of these teams continue to battle trading baskets throughout most of the quarter. Lee continued to focus on getting the ball inside to Mika Diller who finished off another and-one to give Lee a five-point lead. Drury struggled to score, and Lee was able to hold the Blue Devils to just six points in the quarter, giving the Wildcats a six-point advantage with just one quarter to play.
It was Drury’s Norah Wood who got things started in the fourth with back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 36-36. Wood added one more basket on a layup to give her eight points in the quarter and on the night.
“We know what we are going to get out of Jacinta, which is a lot of everything, and it's about the other girls stepping up throughout games and that’s what we’ve had all year and that’s what we got in this game,” Drury coach Ian Downey said. “Credit to Nora Wood, who sat most of the game and when her number was called she stepped up scoring eight points in the quarter including two huge 3s.”
After another 3-pointer from Hannah LaCasse to tie the game up at 41-41, it was Mika Diller’s turn to give Lee the lead right back. Both of these teams continued to trade baskets with neither team getting more than a two-possession lead. Drury once again tied it up at 47-47, forcing this game into overtime.
After Drury got off to an early three-point lead, it was Lee’s Giana Carlino who banked in a 3 to once again level it up. Mia Puleri scored the next basket with less than a minute left to play only to see the lead washed away by a Meagan McGrath 3-pointer with just 34.5 seconds left to go and a one point lead. Lee went right back to their star of the night, Mika Diller, who was able to carve into the lane and score the game winner.
“Mika was a monster today, she worked really hard rebounding for herself and we knew we would need that from her,” Rick Puleri added. “Drury played a great game tonight, we just made one more play than them.”
Lee will now focus their attention on the quarter-Finals in hopes of keeping its State Championship run alive when it travels to top-seeded Hopedale, a 45-26 winner over Minuteman Regional on Wednesday night.