Lee gets the best of Spartans on ‘unacceptable’ technical

GREAT BARRINGTON – Often technical fouls during a heated battle on the basketball court lead to momentum swings for the other team.

Tuesday night, Monument Mountain found out the hard way, just how much a swing it can be.

The Spartans dropped a tough physical game in one of the hardest-played girls’ basketball games you are going to see. Lee battled back thanks to Stephanie Young (17 points) and Eileen Dooley (12 points) to outscore the Spartans 26-13 in the second half for the 42-32 victory.

Dooley’s nine points in the second half, as well as Young’s nine points and eight rebounds in the second frame were a factor. The play that will be remembered on this night was the decision by an official to take Spartan guard Haley Korte and have her return to the baseline to hand a referee the basketball after Korte threw it to the side after a call went against her.

The decision by the referee to reprimand Korte in front of the crowd caused Spartan Head Coach Chris Unsworth to become irate, as he received a technical foul in the third quarter for protesting.

Young made one of two technical foul shots, which was followed by a three-pointer by Dooley to extend what was a two-point game at 26-24 to a 30-24 Lee advantage after three quarters.

“I am not going to let any ref embarrass any of my players  – and to me that was unacceptable,” Unsworth said afterwards of the third quarter reprimand. “I have never seen that before – that has nothing to do with the kids – she was embarrassed in front of a large group, and I will take the brunt of that.”

The Spartans’ Hunter Cormie, tried to bring Monument back as she started the fourth with a jumper from the corner then blocked a shot underneath to cut the lead to 30-26.

Lee countered with a Dooley jumper and a Moriah McKenna (six points) layup to put the Wildcats up 34-26 with 6:30 left.

“They have to learn to persevere,” said Lee Head Coach Gary Wellington. “We have a lot of pressure – you have to learn to keep your focus in games like this – you can’t worry about a touch foul here or there you have to learn how to take control of the basketball.”

While the Wildcats forced six turnovers in the first quarter, it was the key physical defense of McKenna and Megan Gaul in the second half that help hold the Spartans to just 12 second-half points.

“I talked to them at halftime and told them that someone else has to step up, you have two scorers [Young and Dooley] that were jumping the shooters and double-teaming,” Wellington said.

The second-chance opportunities was the difference for Lee, despite the Spartans’ Samantha White, who had four blocks and eight rebounds in limited minutes.

“It was very physical – we tried something different defensively to keep them from getting shots but the key with Lee is keeping them from getting their second shots,” Unsworth said.

The win moves the Wildcats to 5-2 on the season, but after the game most were still talking about the technical foul that seem to change the game completely for Lee.

“When that happens to a team you have to key on that, you can’t let those opportunities slip away from you,” Wellington said. “I am sorry that it happened but my girls have to learn – that’s a point that you don’t lose your head in a game like this.”

Posted by Tim Davis on January 10, 2013. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry