LEE -- Danielle Racette was on the foul line and starring at the backboard when she heard a teammate call out a defensive assignment -- an incorrect assignment.
Without taking her eye off the hoop, Racette corrected the defensive assignments and then sank the first of two free throws. She knew excellent foul shooting alone was not going to lift the Drury girls' basketball team past Lee for the first time since 2005.
On the heels of Racette's 18 points and solid team defense the Blue Devils did just that, 47-37.
"You have to know who everybody has no matter what the score is or how much time is left," Racette said. "You don't want to let them back into the game on a fluke where somebody has to know what we're in and what we are doing."
The Blue Devils held the advantage both offensively and defensively the entire night. Racette scored five points in 30 seconds and gave Drury a lead they would never relinquish with two minutes to play in the second quarter.
Shannon Garvey also had a good offensive performance for the Blue Devils. She scored 10 points and collected a game-high 10 rebounds. Emily Moulton and Racette also contributed on the glass, adding six rebounds each. Lee's Stephanie Young had 15 points and eight rebounds.
"[Lee] is such a good rebounding team that we needed five blue shirts every time on the boards," Drury coach John Franzoni said. "We said 10 players playing hard was going to win
Moulton got into the scoring action by scoring six consecutive points in the third quarter and pushing the Blue Devil lead to 11. She finished the game with six points.
Young was the only Wildcat to reach double figures as Lee struggled to set up offensively. Just five players recorded a point in the game.
"I just think Drury played a great game," Lee coach Gary Wellington said. "We knew they were going to play hard, and we were just out of sync a little bit. We had some issues going on prior to [Monday], so we lost a little bit of practice time. I expected this, I'm happy with my kids, they fought hard right to the end."
The victory clinches a trip to the Western Massachusetts division II tournament for Drury. It's also the first time the Blue Devils have beaten Lee since 2005 and the first time in Franzoni's 11 years as coach they have won in Lee.
Drury held a six-point half time lead and grew that to a 12-point lead by the end of the third quarter. Despite being outscored in the fourth quarter, Drury held on.
"I think we've been playing these same girls since we were younger and we haven't beaten them," Drury senior Shannon Garvey. "So to come out for our last game against them senior year and beat them by ten -- it's really huge, it's crazy."
It was Drury's depth that really did the trick. While just six players contributed points, the Blue Devils relied on defensive play from all ten players.
Freshman Olivia Carlson was pressed into guarding Young for much of the second quarter when Garvey got early foul trouble. Young scored just five points in that span.
Drury also received a boost from the return of Morgan Lamarre. The junior has been out of the lineup since the first game with a concussion. She returned and played limited minutes off the bench. Despite not factoring into the scoring, Franzoni was happy with the lift she provided the team.
"Everyone contributed, as much as Danielle had a huge game, everyone helped out," Franzoni said. "Emily Moulton had a huge third quarter with those six points to start it.
"You can go down the line and say everyone of our 10 payers did something special, and that's really the only way to beat a great team."
To reach Sam Monroe, email
smonroe@thetranscript.com.
On Twitter: @NAT_DigitalSam
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