Recap for the game: Mount Greylock vs Drury on Feb 07
McCarthy, Devils Prove Too Much for the Mounties
By Ryan Holmes
iBerkshires.com
11:48PM / Monday, February 07, 2011
NORTH ADAMS — It's hard to have a short memory when you have such a bad taste in your mouth.
The Drury girls' basketball team was certainly looking for a way to forget Thursday's night 40-38 loss to Pittsfield, a controversial game in which the Blue Devils had several calls go against them in a fourth quarter in which they only managed to score six points. In order to properly put that game behind them, the Drury girls needed to come out strong with a solid effort against Mount Greylock on Monday night.
Thanks to a mouth-washing performance by senior forward Meagan McCarthy, the Blue Devils can effectively put the Pittsfield game behind them now after after earning a 52-36 win over the Mounties at Bucky Bullett Gymnasium. McCarthy scored a career-high 19 points, helping Drury (11-5) turn a four-point halftime lead into a double-digit advantage midway through the third quarter. Greylock (5-10) never got any closer than 11 points behind in the fourth quarter as the Blue Devils ended their only losing streak of the season after just two games.
Senior guard Cassie Lincoln also had a good night for Drury, scoring 11 points to go along with two rebounds and two assists. The Devils captain said closing out the fourth quarter strong against the Mounties was a point of emphasis after letting one slip away against the Generals last week.
"Nobody wants to lose like that, and I think that was our spark for this game," Lincoln said. "We stepped on the court tonight, and we weren't going to let up for a second and let the game get into the refs' hands. We didn't close out the game against Pittsfield, so we knew this time that we had to widen the gap and put the fate in our own hands."
Nobody controlled the fate of the game like McCarthy, who scored nine of 19 points after halftime and finished with 3 different 3-point plays on the night. She also caused big trouble for the Mounties on the glass, pulling down all seven of her rebounds of the offensive end. It's been a very productive run for McCarthy in the past five games. Ever since her coming-out party in a one-point win over Monument Mountain on January 24, the senior forward has looked much more confident of the offensive end, leading the team with a 10.4 points per game average over the past five games.
"It seems to be working for me, and I definitely thought I needed to step it up a little being a senior," McCarthy said of her play in recent weeks. "Driving to the hoop seems to be working for me, and we have a couple of plays where I get the ball more, so I've been trying to take advantage of that. Now that we're getting later into the season, we're definitely becoming more of a team. We're getting used to each other and we know how each other play."
Drury head coach John Franzoni said he's noticed a much more confident McCarthy since the Monument game and feels like she can be a big weapon for Drury going forward.
"She's had three straight games in double figures," Franzoni said. "She's scoring very well right now. When you have a four that can drive to the basket, shoot a foul-line jumper, rebound and she's an athlete. She's a tough matchup for kids at that position, and she's really showing that teams are having a hard time defending her right now. We're trying to get her shots, and she's doing a good job of executing."
Both McCarthy and Lincoln helped get the Blue Devils off to a fast start in the first quarter as the hosts jumped out to a 10-0 lead to open the game. Give the visitors credit, however, as Paul Barrett's squad rallied back to score 8 of the last 10 points of the period to go into the second quarter down 12-8. Greylock forward Kim Houston scored eight of her team-high 13 points in the first half and kept her team in the game with a solid effort on the offensive glass. She finished with five rebounds, four on the offensive end, and came up with four steals on the night as well.
"She battles in there," Barrett said. "She tries to take charges. She works hard on both ends, and she basically takes the team on her shoulders. I can't say enough good things about her."
Playing without senior guard Sarah Brink, who missed her seventh straight game with a knee injury, the Mounties stayed in the game in the first half by outrebounding the hosts 15-12. Drury did a much better job on the glass in the second half, however, earning a 17-10 edge in that category. With Greylock being limited mostly to one-and-done opportunities, the hosts started to slowly grow their lead. Up 30-24 midway through the third quarter, McCarthy hit a hook shot while being fouled and made the foul shot to push the lead to nine points. Moments later, junior Mariah Ferrara swished a three from the left wing to bump the margin to 12. Shortly after the fourth quarter began, Lincoln got out on the fast break and finished off a pass from Lyndsey DeGrenier before making two free throws the next time down the court after another transition attempt. After McCarthy scored off of a putback, the Blue Devils had put the game away by opening up a 17-point cushion.
"Brink was a huge part of this team," Barrett said. "She can do all aspects of the game, whether it's shooting from the outside or penetrating. She's a senior, so she's totally willing and able to take shots when you need them. We showed a lot of heart tonight, but we can't go through these lapses. We lost our focus on how we were trapping and stopped playing smart. I think in some ways Sarah always bailed us out with some big shots here and there, so offensively this has forced us to be more fundamentally sound as far as moving without the ball. She's a 15-20-point scorer, and you just don't replace that."
Drury is home again on Wednesday night, when Taconic comes to town for a 7:30 p.m. game.
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