Lee Edges Mount Greylock
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Mika Diller had a double-double, and Mount Greylock’s 3-point try at the buzzer rimmed out as the Lee girls basketball team Monday earned a 61-60 win.
Diller scored a team-high 15 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked a potential game-winning shot for Lee, which survived two game-winning shot attempts by the Mounties in the final 6 seconds of the game.
Lee survived a back-and-forth game that saw no lead bigger than five points in the final three quarters and four lead changes in the second quarter.
The Wildcats also survived a game in which both teams struggled with foul trouble and two Lee starters fouled out in the final minute of play.
“My bench, I have two, three, four, five girls – probably five girls that are more than willing to go into the game and want the ball,” Lee coach Lexi Mercier said. “They want to take those last free throws. They want the ball in their hands.
“I had girls begging me, ‘Give me the ball. I can do it. I’ll make my free throw.’ So that’s a huge thing for us, that we have girls that want to be here, that are willing to do it and have the confidence to go in there and make the last shot.”
The game’s last shots both came from Tanley Drake, who led all scorers with 21 points.
With 9.1 seconds on the clock, Lee had a chance to make it a three-point game but missed both free throws. Mount Greylock’s Madison Drake grabbed the rebound, and the Mounties got a time out with 6.82 seconds on the clock.
The inbound pass went to Tanley Drake, who dribbled into the front court and got to the free throw line, where her runner was off target, but the officials ruled it was tipped by Diller, giving Mount Greylock one last chance with .51 seconds remaining.
A.J. Pelkey got the inbounds pass to Tanley Drake on the left wing, and she fired up a shot that caromed off the rim, giving Lee (6-2) its second win of the winter over Mount Greylock and its second win in a row overall.
Lee won the first meeting, 59-49, in mid-December, and early on Monday night, it looked like the Wildcats were en route to an even bigger win in the rematch.
Diller scored in the post on Lee’s first possession, igniting an 11-0 run that ended with a steal generated by Lee’s press and a basket by Ella Simone (11 points) just two minutes into the game.
“I keep telling the girls that I feel like our first four minutes aren’t our strongest,” Mercier said. “So today, that was our huge focus: coming out in that first four minutes and really getting a jump, showing our energy and our willingness to play.
“I mean, 11-0, timeout, I thought we did absolutely amazing. That’s what we’ve been working for, really keeping our intensity up, our energy up. I think we did great in that sense. And then, we just kind of got tired.”
The Mounties were energized after coach Jabari Powell took an early timeout.
Mount Greylock went on a 16-6 run to make it a one-point game before Lee’s Giana Carlino (14 points, eight rebounds) scored in transition to give her team a three-point lead after one quarter.
The teams traded blows in the second quarter, which ended with a five-point spurt from Lee to go up, 36-34, on a Diller putback.
“She’s amazing,” Mercier said of Diller. “She drew two defenders the entire game. And, for her to keep her head held high when it’s tough. She’s got a girl on this side and a girl on that side, and she just works. And she’s going to get that rebound, and she’s going to put it back up. And she’s so determined. And she’s a confident kid.
“She’s a huge part of this team, and it really opens up the offense for our 3-point shooters when, at least, she can get touches, because then teams just collapse in. She’s a huge part of us.”
Lee never trailed in the second half, but neither could it shake the Mounties, who tied the game at 50-50 and 54-54.
Naelyn Robinson (15 points, seven rebounds) tied it the final time with a basket in transition after a rebound by Madison Drake (eight boards).
Payton Simmons (12 points) answered with a triple for the Wildcats to make it 57-54 with 1:38 on the clock.
Mount Greylock got a pair of free throws from Robinson, and Diller responded with a bucket in the post to make it 59-56.
Again, the Mounties got within two, this time on a free throw from Tanley Drake with 1:06 on the clock.
Lee came down and scored its final basket 12 seconds later when Carlino put back an offensive rebound to make it 61-57 with just less than a minute to play.
Carlino later fouled out, as did Ella Simone. Mount Greylock, meanwhile, would lose Madison Powell (seven points, nine rebounds) and Robinson to their fifth fouls.
After Carlino capped a stretch that saw the teams trade successful trips for two minutes, they combined for five empty possessions before Robinson’s 3-pointer made it 61-60 with 13 seconds on the clock, setting the stage for the dramatic final moments.
Mount Greylock’s Jabari Powell, while disappointed with the outcome, was encouraged with how his team battled against a program that went to the state semi-finals a year ago and leads the Franklin North Division with a now 5-0 league record this winter.
“They played great,” he said. “That’s probably the best full ballgame they played all year. It just didn’t go in at the end. That happens. Lee’s a really good team. They’ve got good players, they’re coached really well.
“I’m proud of the way they played. They fought the whole game. They were never down.”
Lee (6-2) is at Pioneer Valley Christian on Tuesday. Mount Greylock (5-4) goes to PVCS on Thursday.
Photos from this game to come.