Lady Cs Comeback Effort Falls Short
Visiting Westborough (4-4, 3-3 Midland B) withstood a strong second half effort by the Crusaders (5-4, 3-1) but held on to take a 55-51 decision in Midland B action.
Senior Celina Antonellis' early basket two minutes in gave GD a 2-0 lead but the Crusaders never gained the advantage again, trailing Westborough the rest of the evening. Despite six turnovers, the Lady C's were only down 10-8 at the end of the quarter and you felt, "bang the boards, stop the miscues and we'll be ok."
With the visitors ahead 15-11, Antonellis drained a 3-pointer to get within one but Ranger senior Amy Wilichowski (20 pts.) hit a trey to open the four point advantage again. When Westborough needed a lift, Wilichowski was there all night.
But GD continued to battle, getting strong play at both ends from sophomore Jenna Plausse (10 pts.) who made two buckets late in the second quarter, knotting the game at 21-21.
"I was so impressed with Jenna who got some big offensive rebounds and put-backs. She is such a fighter and gave us an outstanding effort," praised varsity coach Mark Hennelly. "
Catherine Martin converted a pair of foul shots and Tori Flahive's basket had Westborough leading 25-21 at the half.
A 10-4 Westborough run starting the third put GD down 35-25 before junior Melyssa Langell's layup stopped the bleeding. Wilichowski hit a three as time ran down in the third to push the Ranger advantage to 12 points, 44-32.
Werner who had a quiet first half (4 pts), scored 20 second half points to help fuel the fourth quarter comeback.
With 4:44 remaining the locals continued to battle. Werner hit a three. Plausse made a strong move to the basket and finished. When Crusaders freshman Hanna Van Pelt stepped back and hit a huge three with 1:45 to go, the lead was 52-46. But Westborough ran five quick points and only the final score was in doubt.
"We had a lapse in rebounding and did not match their intensity in the third," continued Hennelly. "But we hung around."
The Crusaders host Nashoba Regional (8-0) Friday.
