Lady Wildcats fall to giant Bishops in state hoop final

WORCESTER – They may be giants in Braintree, as the Lady Wildcats fell to Archbishop Williams in the State Final 60-33.

Lee seniors Hadley Cook, Moriah McKenna, Megan Gaul, Sara Middleton, Eileen Dooley and Stephanie Young gracefully bowed out of a Lee program with a 2010 State Title and three Western Mass. titles on their resume.

“I am super proud of my team and ‘Gig’,” said Young after the game.

Archbishop Williams, a parochial school located in Braintree, Mass., was led by a frontline of three girls over six feet tall, which dominated the 5’6″ and 5’8″ of Lee’s frontline, Cook and McKenna.

The giant Bishops pulled down 31 offensive rebounds in dominating the boards from start to finish with a 52-31 overall advantage.

“That was really tough – that’s what beat us, it’s tough to overcome because when you box out they could still reach over you,” said 5’2” Eileen Dooley.

The Bishops opened the game on a 13-0 run, before Lee freshman Courtney Picard hit a three from the wing with 3:40 left in the quarter.

“We ran into a tough team, ran into a better team, ran into a bigger team; that’s why they are restructuring all the teams in the State of Massachusetts,” said Lee Head Coach Gary Wellington.

The size of the Bishops and the strength of their school has provoked the MIAA to move Archbishop Williams up from Division 3 to Division 1 next year, like so many other similar sized parochial schools with a strong athletic focus.

The Wildcats did go on a short second quarter run, after trailing 17-6 after the first quarter.

Dooley grabbed a defensive rebound and converted a coast-to-coast driving lay-up with the foul and free throw to make it 17-9.

Dooley then hit a jumper off a pick before Picard hit a jumper to make it a 21-13 Lee deficit with 3:32 left.

After a Bishops turnover, Young’s three-attempt from the wing went in and out, which would have cut the lead to five with 2:55 left in the half.

The Bishops appeared to be on their heels for a moment during the Lee run, but a referee timeout, which led to a three-minute break in the action, allowed Archbishop Williams to catch their breathe and return with a 8-2 run to close the half.

“We got them tired at one point – and that gave them a breather as we hung around – and that hurt us a bit – we might have been a little bit closer,” Wellington said.

After trailing 29-15 at the half, the Bishops opened the third quarter with a three from the wing and a fast break lay-up before building a 48-26 lead after three frames of play.

The biggest factor for the Lee offense was Dooley, who scored 16 points, as Young was held to three points the entire game.

Young, whose outside game has been re-hot lately, scoring 30 in the state semi-final against Worcester Main South and 27 against Sabis in the Western Mass. final, couldn’t get her open three-balls and jumpers to fall against the Bishops.

After the game, Wellington stepped down as head coach and reflected back on the year and the special group of players on his historic team.

“I have had a blast – I wouldn’t have want to have done it with any other team – if you tell me I could switch teams here today I wouldn’t do that,” Wellington said. “There are big hearts in those kids and they don’t know how to quit.”

Senior Dooley also reflected on her team’s final campaign under Wellington.

“As a team the last four years we have really grown, especially this year we really came together – making it here was one of our goals,” Dooley said. “We just play with our hearts the whole time – coach said ‘no matter what, don’t give up.’”

Young, who finishes her career with more than 1,400 points and is considering either UMass or Division 3 basketball at either RPI or WPI, shared her feelings for her teammates after the game.

“We worked so hard and we are a family – I am really proud of what we did over our four years,” Young said, “so thankful for the team and family I have had to support me in everything that I do.”

Posted by Tim Davis on March 21, 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