#1 Sabis too much for Lenox girls in semis, 45-41

The Lenox girls’ hoop season came to an end last night in Amherst, as the Millionaires could not finish off the comeback against the #1 seed Sabis Bulldogs, falling 45-41.

The rebounding and the physical zone defense was the difference early on as the Bulldogs built an early 23-10 lead in the second quarter.  Sabis and the physical Shyanne Wellington bulldozed her way to 17 points and 8 rebounds, with most of those coming on the offensive glass, in the second half on rebounds and put backs.

Lenox’s Liz Mitts kept the Millionaires alive during the game with 12 of her 20 points coming in the first half.

Mitts scored 6 points in the closing minutes of the second quarter to cut the Sabis halftime lead at 29-21.

While Sabis and their 6’1″ center Casie Thurber matched up wit Mitts in the third, Lenox opened up the spacing on the floor and spread the Sabis zone out, creating passing lanes in the paint, allowing both Jaclyn Gigliotti (6 points) and Hayden Zinchuk (10 points) some opportunities to score.

Heading into the fourth quarter, Lenox trailed only 38-35, despite Zinchuk on the bench with 4 fouls.

“We just don’t know how to give up and we won’t give up – I told them we need to go at them right off the bat,” said Lenox head coach Nicole Patella.

Lenox battled in the fourth, but at this time with Mitts now being double teamed at every possession and Zinchuk in foul trouble and eventually fouling out with 2:28 left, the Millionaires struggled to put points on the board.

The Millionaires did have a late opportunity, with 23.8 seconds left, Lenox missed a crucial 1-and-1 opportunity at the line that could have tied the game.

“We didn’t find the basket at the end of the game,” said Paella. ” We just didn’t get it in.”

Posted by Tim Davis on March 7, 2013. Filed under Breaking News,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