Lenox can’t overcome no. 1 Sabis in Western Mass. semifinal

It was a challenging season for the Lady Millionaires hoop team, as they bowed out of the Western Mass. playoffs to no. 1 Sabis (Springfield), 45-41.

“I am very proud of these girls – midseason when we had a little lull there – they kept battling,” said Lenox Head Coach Nicole Patella after the loss.

With the absence of Jen Delasco for much of the season, Patella relied on a committee of guards as well as forward Kathy Prescott to share the ball-handling duties against some of the county’s best backcourts in Hoosac, Drury and Lee.

Lenox’s weakness in the backcourt allowed Sabis’ aggressive pressure zone the opportunity for turnovers as the Bulldogs built a 14-8 first quarter lead and a 29-21 advantage at halftime.

“We played with jitters in the first half,” Patella said. “I just wanted my girls to settle down – they were very panicky – not strong with the ball.”

Despite the turnovers, and Sabis’ on the ball pressure, Lenox’s Liz Mitts responded and kept her team in the game by finding the soft spots in the middle of the Bulldog’s zone to score 12 of her team-high 20 points in the first half.

“[Mitts is] our go-to-girl in these types of games,” Patella said. “She wants the ball; we had to get her away from the basket because she is such a great outside shooter.”

Lenox quickly got back in the game at the start of the third quarter as Patella had the Millionaires spread the floor against the zone to create some easy cuts to the hoop through the passing lanes.

Jaclyn Gigliotti (six points) opened the quarter with an easy lay-up from Hayden Zinchuk (10 points). Mitts then added a jumper on the baseline, and Gigliotti made another nice cut to the hoop, where she was fouled before hitting two free throws to cut the Bulldog lead to 31-27 with 6:12 left in the third.

Lenox also was aggressive on their full-court press in the third, as Zinchuk was able to convert on two sets of free throws with consecutive steals to cut the lead to 33-31 with 5:18 left.

Mitts followed with a jumper in the lane to tie it at 33-33. Sabis’ Shyanne Wellington’s steal and lay-up, plus a bucket off an offensive rebound had the Bulldogs up 38-35 after three frames.

“We just don’t know how to give up, and we won’t give up,” Patella said afterwards. “We are not going to back down – we had to go right off the bat.”

At the start of the fourth quarter, Lenox was stung when Zinchuk picked up her fourth foul with 7:44 left and had to sit down for a majority of the fourth.

Sabis went up 41-35, until Prescott answered by knocking down a pair of free throws before Mitts hit a jumper at the foul line to make it a 41-39 game.

Mitts added another jumper from 15 feet to tie the game at 41-41 with 4:05 left, but the Bulldogs finished out the scoring the rest of the way.

The Millionaires did have a final shot to tie the game late, but missed a crucial one-and-one free throw attempt with 23.8 seconds remaining.

Despite Zinchuk returning late in the game, and then fouling out with 2:28 left, the Millionaires had no answer for the Bulldogs’ pressure defense, which swarmed Mitts at every opportunity in the final minutes.

“A player like [Zinchuk] – it’s tough to lose [her] with three minutes to go – she played her heart out,” the coach said.

After the loss, Patella had some kind words for her team, who went down fighting against the heavy favorite Bulldogs.

“I said to them that you’re going to take a lot of good things – I want to remember one – to put a smile back on your face,” she said.

Posted by Tim Davis on March 14, 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