Drury Girls Advance to Regional Final
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The Drury girls basketball team Saturday collected six 3-pointers in the second quarter to pull away from Mahar for an eventual 58-21 win in the semi-finals of the Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament.
Lily Mirante had a pair of those triples and finished with 12 points on a night when the Blue Devils had to survive the Senators’ rough-and-tumble style.
“”To say the first half was physical was probably an understatement,” Drury coach Ian Downey said. “I was preaching every timeout, just, ‘Don’t be the person that reacts.’ And we had a couple of times when we were frustrated, rightfully so. I’m not going to say they shouldn’t be frustrated.
“But teams that win are teams that are mentally prepared. For us to play a physical game like that and still win by the score we won by, I think says a lot about the mentality of my players.”
Top-seeded Drury (15-5) returns to the regional final for the first time since 2023, when it fell to Springfield International Charter in the title game. It learns its opponent in this year’s final on Sunday, when No. 2 Lee hosts third-seeded Renaissance in the other half of the bracket.
On Saturday, Drury led by just six, 14-8, after one quarter of play.
But the Blue Devils turned it up offensively and defensively over the next eight minutes, outscoring Mahar, 24-8, to take a 26-point lead into half-time.
Ella Bond (10 points) scored eight points in the second period – six on 3-pointers.
And after giving up four field goals in the first quarter, Drury allowed just four makes the rest of the game.
“We came into the game wanting to press,” Downey said. “The problem is you can’t press until there’s a stoppage or until you make shots. Sometimes that delays that for a little while.”
The offense and defense fed off each other to give the Blue Devils a working margin they only extended in the second half.
In the fourth quarter, Drury’s reserves extended the lead as Tenley Wood knocked down a 3-pointer with an assist from Bond and got a conventional three-point play on a drive from the right wing.