RallyNorth.net

Special Feature: Homepage Story

Homepage Story

Fri, Mar 04, 2011 07:00 PM @ Central Catholic
Team 1 2 Final
Masconomet 25 21 46
Central Catholic 25 43 68

Central turns it on after halftime

  • Currently 0.0 with 0 votes.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Friday, March, 04 By Hector Longo

 

LAWRENCE — Clanging their way through a 25-25 first half with Masconomet last night, the third-seeded Central Catholic girls rode that thin line between urgency and panic perfectly at halftime.

"At halftime, one of the things I talked about, was I'm not ready for this to be over," said Raider captain Gabie Polce. "I'm still not ready for it to be."

Polce's words, and some timely adjustments by Sue Downer and the Raider coaching staff on both ends, turned a brewing upset into a Raider runaway, 68-46, last night in the Division 1 North quarterfinals.

Central finally pried the lid off the hoop after a monster first-half struggle, canning six 3-pointers and a handful of two-point jumpers to loosen Masco's stubborn zone and take charge with a 23-6 third quarter.

"I think it was us not capitalizing on what they were giving us," said Polce. "In the second half, (Downer) said, if they're going to give us shots, we're going to have to make them."

Junior Alex Borrelli (12 points) did, and then the fab frosh, Courtney Walsh (12 points) connected, and the Raiders simply snowballed offensively.

"When one person hits one, it gets going, and we kind of feed off each other," said Polce. "That's what a team is all about."

Downer, whose club will play in its fifth straight North semifinal vs. the Andover-Cambridge winner, had to be pleased with her club's dominance on both ends of the floor after the break.

"We went to a zone, that's the biggest adjustment we made," she said.

"Everybody stepped up in the second half. You have to go with the adjustments, believe in the adjustments. It's our house, it's our half. It's all about the positives. And they rose to the occasion."

Polce paced the Raiders with 19 points, while Melissa Miller, Tori Brillaud and Casey McLaughlin all benefitted with some breathing room in the paint in the second half, combining for 25 points.

Central, 20-2, now gets to spy on Andover and Cambridge, expecting a fourth collision with the defending state champion Warriors.

"Now we can look ahead, you never know, but anything can happen," said Polce. "Playing Andover would be close to my heart, that would be the biggest game for us. But we've played Cambridge and that's a very good basketball team. Whoever we get we're going to handle it the same way."

The Raiders fell twice to Andover before taking round three and sharing the MVC title. Central also defeated Cambridge, 72-55, in the regular season.

 

 

 

Game Statistics:

Masconomet (46):  Chelsea Nason 2 1-6 6, Taylor Evans 2 2-2 6, Danielle Davis 6 4-5 16, Claudia Marsh 0 1-2 1, Brooke Stewart 7 0-0 17, Totals 17 8-15 46

Central (68):  Courtney Walsh 5 0-0 12, Alex Borrelli 4 0-0 12, Melissa Miller 3 3-3 9, Gabie Polce 7 3-8 19, Tori Brillaud 4 0-1 8, Casey McLaughlin 4 0-1 8, Totals 27 6-13 68

3-pointers:  M — Nason, Stewart 3; CC — Walsh 2, Borrelli 4, Polce 2

Additional stories:

0 Story Comments