ATTLEBORO, Mass. – After two weeks off, first-year Attleboro coach Bri Bracken kept reminding her team that they needed to come out with energy on Tuesday night. She knew that the Bombardiers couldn’t be sluggish if they wanted to earn their first win over Foxboro since 2015.
Attleboro heeded its coach’s warning, pressuring the ball defensively, being aggressive on the glass, and attacking the paint on offense. With three players in double figures, Attleboro’s balance paid dividends in a 57-47 victory.
“I was a little nervous at first,” Bracken admitted. “I think in nine days we had two practices. I shot them a text them today and was like, we need energy. It’s our home court, it’s our first game in a while, we need this energy. If we don’t have it, then it’s going to be a tough game. Their energy was awesome.”
Foxboro coach Lisa Downs admitted that her team was “out-worked” in its first game back from the long layoff. “We just didn’t play with any urgency,” she explained. “When we play defense with a little bit of fire underneath us, then we’re okay but we were down by 15 at one point and we were playing like we were tied. There was no urgency at all.”
Meghan Gordon got Attleboro off to a great start by scoring 17 of her game-high 19 points in the first half, showing off her ability to create around the basket as well as improved range. She knocked down three from beyond the arc in the opening half, while adding 10 rebounds, four blocks, four assists, and three steals.
“She’s a hard matchup for us because she’s not a big but she’s not a guard,” Downs said of Gordon. “I think we didn’t respect her as much as we should have being a perimeter shooter at the beginning, thinking she was mostly going to be in the paint, and that’s not the case.”
Kayla Goldrick (12 points and nine rebounds) got Attleboro on the board with a three, but Foxboro came right back and led 8-7 after a Camryn Collins’ steal under the basket and assist for a Kailey Sullivan layup. It would be the last lead of the game for the Warriors. Lindsey Perry (12 points, six assists, and four steals) drove to the basket to put Attleboro back in front.
Then Gordon knocked down a jumper, tipped a pass that Perry picked off and turned into a Gordon layup, and then drilled a three to close out the quarter with Attleboro up 18-10.
A technical because of a player missing from the book gave Foxboro two free points to start the second (Ava Hill knocking down both free throws) and Collins (12 points, seven rebounds, and five assists) added a reverse to cut the lead to four. Attleboro kept a possession alive with a pair of rebounds and Riley Camacho buried a big three from the wing to keep the Warriors at arm’s length.
Hill hit a three at one end, but Gordon came down and nailed one at the other. Sullivan (seven points) got into the lane and scored plus the foul, but again Perry kicked it out to Gordon for another one from deep. Goldrick then drove down the lane and scored with the lefthand to push the lead to 10. Sullivan and Collins both scored in the paint, but it was Attleboro leading 32-25 going into the locker room.
Foxboro got off to a quick start to the third with Collins scoring on a put-back and then assisting Hannah Blake (11 points and six rebounds) for a bucket. Erin Foley (10 points and eight rebounds) nailed a three and the lead was just 37-32.
While Gordon wasn’t finding her own offense, she was dishing out assists, finding Perry for a big three, Lily Routhier for a baseline jumper, and Goldrick for a layup with a good look-ahead pass.
“They’re going to come out firing and we still have to play our basketball, our tempo, and come out fighting still,” Bracken said of her message at halftime. “The score is probably 0-0 in their head, you’ve got to come out firing, and they did. Everyone contributed. It was a great team win. Bench energy was amazing, it was awesome.”
“I think they outworked us,” Downs remarked. “We need to get a little more physical, not just on the glass, but in general.”
Despite its leading scorer being held scoreless in the third, Attleboro didn’t slow down. Perry kept making plays, driving to the basket for a tough layup, kicking it out to Camacho for her second three of the night, and then drilling a three of her own to put the Bombardiers in front 49-34. She had eight of her 12 points in the third.
“She controls the tempo,” Bracken said of Perry. “I always say to everyone, she’s a kid you want out there all the time. We can’t take her out.”
Foxboro wasn’t going to go quietly and started to cut into the lead in the fourth. Blake scored seven of her 11 in the final quarter, knocking down a couple tough jumpers and grabbing an offensive rebound. Foley also added four in the fourth, but the Warriors were never able to get any closer than 10.
Routhier hit a big shot off a Gordon assist and then Perry went flying down the lane, fighting through contact to bank in a left-handed runner. Gordon sealed the win with a runner of her own, her only points of the half, to put Attleboro up a dozen in the final minute.
“It’s a huge win, just to get that under their belt,” Bracken said of earning a rare victory against Foxboro. “I told them they can celebrate tonight but tomorrow we’ve got to be ready for another game.”
Attleboro (4-3) has a quick turnaround, traveling to Milford on Wednesday night. Foxboro (3-2) will host Sharon on Friday.
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