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No. 15 Georgetown looking to post third straight upset

Tuesday, March, 04 By Evan Mugford
Staff writer

As far as the Georgetown Royals girls basketball team is concerned, tournament rankings don't mean a thing.

In a matter of five days, the No. 15 seed Royals (12-10) have turned the Division 4 North bracket upside down with upsets over No. 10 Lowell Catholic (59-52) and No. 2 Matignon (67-62). With a variety of experienced upperclassmen and passionate coaches in BarriAnn Alonzo and Bob Graffum, the Royals look to continue their dominance against another higher-ranked squad in No. 3 Mount Alvernia (16-2) this evening (7 p.m., Concord-Carlisle).

Alonzo, who is a Spanish teacher at Georgetown in addition to being the head coach, has witnessed the Royals go deep in the tourney before. During the 2003-2004 season she led the Royals to the state finals (losing to the defending state champs in Harwich). Her team's success, Alonzo explains, can be contributed to the tough Cape Ann League regular-season schedule.

"We're having postseason success because we play in such a competitive league," stated Alonzo. "We lose to the Masconomets, the Pentuckets, and the North Andovers. Whereas teams in the Catholic league are winning and winning, and though they have a better record, they actually haven't faced the competition we have.

"The team as a whole doesn't pay attention to our seed," said Alonzo. "The only thing we pay attention to is who we have to go out and beat."

Since his retirement, Graffum has been comfortable in his role as Alonzo's assistant (whose roles were reversed five years prior). With over 25 years experience coaching the Royals, Graffum's brand of run-and-gun basketball complements Alonzo's more disciplined offensive sets.

"It all starts with BarriAnn," explained Graffum. "Philosophically we're similar, but we do stress different aspects in our approaches.

"The other night, every good shot we had was because she made the kids slow down and run the offense," said Graffum. "If you can do that in the state tournament, you're going to be successful."

Though Georgetown's success can be attributed to great coaching, the players will always remain the most deciding factors in sports. Captains Taryn O'Connell and Julie Fehlmann, two great friends and competitors, are providing the leadership and fire-power a team aimed to go deep in the tournament require.

Fehlmann, a three-sport athlete (soccer and softball) and the team's lone senior (heading to Union College in New York), is the Royals' proclaimed Jack-of-All-Trades (7.7 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 3 spg).

"Julie's been a four-year player here, and she's been contributing the entire time," stated Alonzo. "It's been such a pleasure watching her develop and grow into such a good player. She's had a great career and we're going to miss her next year."

Over the last week and a half, there may not be a more productive basketball player on the entire North Shore than junior/forward O'Connell. Over the season, the Royals' most valuable player averaged 17 points and 13 rebounds a game, but until recently has propelled her game into another stratosphere, with monstrous performances against Matignon (24 points and 17 rebounds) and Lowell Catholic (32 points and 14 rebounds).

Despite being a domineering force on the court, O'Connell is a high-honor student who enjoys math and science, aspires to become a doctor, plays soccer in the fall, and is as modest as people come.

When asked about her recent scoring streak, O'Connell could only laugh and understate her play, "Some nights it goes in and some nights it doesn't. My shot has been on, and I've managed to have a couple good games."

Her team, O'Connell explained, hits full stride when they play as a whole.

"We've had a couple down games where we didn't play as well as we should have," said O'Connell. "But recently we've definitely come together. We all know each other really well, we hang out all the time, and we have a strong team bond."

O'Connell's ability to rise above adversity and put the team on her shoulders are qualities not unnoticed by Alonzo. "Taryn is fabulous," said Alonzo. "She has decided to be the one that says: Let's go team, get on my back and I'll take you there. And she's doing a remarkable job of just that.

"She has elevated her play, and is a never-say-die type of player," explained Alonzo. "She never quits and the other players feed off her intensity."

Regarding tomorrow night's game, Alonzo, Fehlmann and O'Connell all have identical sentiments. "We need to play as a whole."

As the Royals continue their journey towards a state title, a full team effort from the likes of Haley Gisonno, Shannon Hartford, Kelli and Courtney O'Brien, Maria and Gina DeGenova, Kelly Gillen, Kelly Burke, Margaret Bergson and Pauline Reilly, could see their hoop dreams come to fruition.