Recap for the game: Drury vs Pittsfield on Feb 03
Pittsfield Hands Drury Girls a Shocking Defeat
By Ryan Holmes
iBerkshires.com
11:10PM / Thursday, February 03, 2011
PITTSFIELD -- What was supposed to be a huge bounce-back win for the Drury girls' basketball team turned into a shocking, improbable defeat on Thursday night as Pittsfield, which trailed the entire game, sank two free throws with 8.4 seconds left to pull out a 40-38 win at home.
The Blue Devils, fresh off their worst loss of the season in a 26-point defeat to Lee on Monday night, jumped out of the gates nicely against the Generals, going up 20-11 at halftime and carrying that same nine-point cushion into the fourth quarter. A string of questionable calls opened the door for Pittsfield, however, and Joe Racicot's team obliged by outscoring Drury (10-5) 17-6 in the final frame.
The most egregious call of the night came with 8.4 seconds left in the game with the score tied at 38 points apiece. The Blue Devils were holding the ball for one final shot when the Generals' Lauren McLaughlin knocked the ball out of the hands of Drury's Meagan McCarthy and out of bounds. On the ensuing inbounds play, referee Mark Chylinski called Drury forward Kelsey Ouimet for a push off on Rachel Hunt before the ball was put into play, essentially taking the ball out of the players' hands and taking the game over himself. Hunt went to the line and sank both foul shots, and the Blue Devils never had a chance to respond as Drury point guard Danielle Racette was rode out of bounds with no call in sight.
After the game, Blue Devils head coach John Franzoni gave his opinion of Chylinski's final call in a game full of memorable ones.
"That was the worst call I've seen in 20 years of coaching basketball," an irate Franzoni said after catching his breath. "It's an official that lost his composure, and he should be embarrassed."
It was a brutal fourth quarter for Chylinski, who got several obvious calls wrong down the stretch that helped keep the game close for Pittsfield (10-5). Midway through the fourth, he whistled a 2-on-none Drury fast-break opportunity dead when the Generals' Courtney McLaughlin collided with a Devils player in the paint. Chylinski took a scoring chance away from Drury even though McLaughlin wasn't bleeding and wanted to stay in the game. After a curious offensive foul call on the Blue Devils' Cassie Lincoln, when she appeared to be tripped dribbling out of a double team, Chylinski then made matters worse by awarding Drury only two points on an obvious 3-pointer by Lincoln the next time down the court.
Add to it the fact that the Generals took 29 free throws to just 11 for the Blue Devils and one might understand just why Franzoni was so upset following the game.
"I'll tell you what I'm all for sportsmanship, and I emphasize it with my coaches, but there has to be some accountability for the officials because it's getting ridiculous," Franzoni said. "It's just a shame when the kids get the game taken out of their hands. It's not fair and it's not right."
In contrast to how it opened the game against Lee, Drury came out much stronger in the first half on Monday night, opening up with an 11-5 lead after the first quarter thanks to some stingy defense. Ouimet scored all six of her points in the first half, while substitutes Ali Tatro and Mariah Ferrara provided sparks off the bench with their hustle up the court early on.
"We did a good job, and I thought we executed well," Franzoni said. "Defensively, I thought we did a great job defending on their two scorers. We took the two McLaughlins away. We were a little disappointed in our fouling, and that kind of came back in the second half to hurt us. We had some big baskets though. Meagan McCarthy had a real big game for us tonight."
Both offenses picked it up after halftime, however, and the McLaughlin girls got on track for PHS. Lauren finished with 13 points on 9 of 15 shooting from the charity stripe, while Courtney chipped in with nine points. As the McLaughlin girls started attacking the basket, McCarthy kept the Blue Devils in front by knocking down a number of outside shots on her way to a team-high 10 points and five rebounds.
Where Drury got into trouble was midway through the fourth quarter when they failed to capitalize on a couple of good looks inside the paint. After one such miss, the Generals' Meghan Face came back down the other end of the court and buried a three to cut the Devils' lead to four points with 6:23 left on the clock. Lauren McLaughlin then got to the foul line time and time again, eventually tying the game at 38 with 27.8 seconds left. Drury couldn't get that one last basket they needed to put the game away before that as McCarthy was blocked on a jumper, while Racette didn't get a foul call on a drive to the basket.
"We also missed some good opportunities early in the quarter to go ahead more," Franzoni said. "We were moving the basketball well, but we had three consecutive possessions where we had good shots in the paint and didn't finish. Those are things you have to do early and it wouldn't matter in the end."
The Blue Devils will now try to regroup and prepare for a pair of home games next week against Mount Greylock and Taconic. They first host the Mounties on Monday night at 7:30 p.m.
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