CHESHIRE -- Megan Benoit and Ali Tatro combined to score more points in 15 seconds than either team did in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.
That quick spark allowed the Drury girls' basketball team to score 11 points in the final two minutes and slip past Hoosac Valley, 35-28 on Wednesday night. The 11 points in the final two minutes were more points than either team could muster in any previous quarter.
Benoit's 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 10 seconds left gave her team a lead it never relinquished. Trailing by two, Danielle Racette was able to find Benoit open in the corner and she buried the shot.
"Megan is a knock-down shooter," Racette said. "She's very confident and that was a big shot. It put us ahead and after that they didn't go ahead."
Tatro intercepted a pass from Hoosac's Mckenzie Robinson as the Hurricanes attempted to respond. After grabbing the ball at midcourt, she had an easy path to the basket for two points.
"I just kept my hands out and it hit my hands," Tatro said. "Then I just looked ahead to look to push the ball in transition."
Tatro struggled to stay on the floor, getting into early foul trouble. She was held off the scoreboard until the third quarter and finished with eight points and four rebounds. Six of her points came in the fourth quarter while playing with four fouls.
"The key thing was just keeping Ali in the game," Drury coach John Franzoni said. "She
Shannon Garvey led the way for the Blue Devils with a game-high 14 points, she also recorded five rebounds and two steals.
Garvey's biggest rebound of the game came on the offensive end of the floor. She snatched the loose ball and tossed it back into the hoop before touching the ground with just over a minute to play. The basket gave Drury a 31-28 lead.
"They got that big offensive rebound there and that just killed us," Hoosac coach Ron Wojcik said.
The Hurricanes were led by Emily Rosse who had 12 points in a game where defense ruled. Hoosac was able to limit Racette to just two points. Those points came in the second quarter on her only shot of the half.
"Our game plan was two things: We wanted to try and contain Danielle," Wojcik said. "And we wanted to at least play even or control the boards, and I think it was even, but they just got the big offensive rebound late."
The rebounds were almost even, as the Blue Devils out-gained the Hurricanes 20-19 on the glass and both teams struggled to score. Drury broke into double digits in the second and fourth quarter, while preventing Hoosac from scoring more than eight in any quarter.
"They played almost like a box and one where they just face-guarded me the whole game," Racette said. "That and Meg Rodowicz is a good defender, she was tough to get by. They played really physical at the top, but my teammates all stepped up and did a great job tonight. This was a good win for us."
It was a tough night for any player to break through on the score sheet. Each team had just six players score. Rosse and Garvey were the only players to get to double figures.
"It comes down to us making plays on the offensive end," Wojcik said. "We were out of sync offensively. It was the turnovers that did us in, we really forced some things that were not there."
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