By Josh Perry, Managing Editor
NORTH ATTLEBORO – The Bombardiers have been snakebitten with injuries this season. A day after finding out that junior Julia Strachan was lost for the year to a knee injury, Attleboro watched as Sarah Deyo walked off the court holding her elbow just 1:17 into the second half against North Attleboro on Friday night.
Deyo had a first half double-double and scored the first bucket of the third quarter, but she would be done after scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds and helping the Bombardiers grab a slim, five-point advantage.
Rather than allowing the disappointment of losing another key player cost it the game, Attleboro, as it has all season, had other players step up.
Sophomore Sam Pierce scored 15 points (nine in the second half) and had 12 rebounds and senior Emily Houle, in only her third game back from her own injury, had 13 points (eight in the second half) and 11 rebounds to lead the Bombardiers to a 51-43 victory in the nightcap of a doubleheader at the Pickering Gym.
“I think our box out and rebound stuff was outstanding,” said Attleboro coach Rick Patch. “We didn’t really run much [on offense] but the big thing they did was compete. They didn’t let up, they focused.”
North came out strong at the end of a tough week that saw it face three of its fiercest rivals (Mansfield and Bishop Feehan were the others). Emily Schromm started the game with the first of her three three-pointers on the night and later in the quarter Ashley Ahern completed a four-point play on the far sideline. Sam Taggart scored four points in the first, including a long two at the buzzer.
The Bombardiers counted on Deyo to stay close in the opening quarter. The junior scored six points, many of them on second chance opportunities, as Attleboro dominated on the glass.
“They’re a tough matchup,” said North coach Derek Herber about trying to keep Attleboro off the boards. “Defensively, we rebound okay but it’s the offensive rebounds we don’t force a lot of teams to play on the defensive boards.”
In the second, Attleboro went on a run to grab the lead. After Emily Peters (seven points) and Schromm knocked down threes to put North ahead 24-19, the Bombardiers scored nine of the next 10 points. Deyo tied the game with a jumper, then Emma Vlashi, in her first game back from injury, hit two free throws to give Attleboro the lead and Houle made it four with a steal and transition layup.
“She just got cleared today,” said Patch of Vlashi. “The plan was to only have her play like six minutes and then a couple of things where Sarah goes down and you just go by how you feel.”
With Deyo on the bench icing her arm, Taggart (nine points) buried a three to bring North back within two and then Kiersten Bixby scored on an offensive rebound to tie it at 32. Momentum seemed to be on the home team’s side, but first Houle and then Pierce knocked down threes from opposite corners to give the Bombardiers a 38-34 lead heading to the fourth.
“Sam posts up all the time but she can play on the outside,” Patch explained. “We give those kids the green light. They can shoot anytime they think they can make it.”
Attleboro carried the momentum into the final quarter with some help from poor shooting by the Rocketeers. Time and again, North created openings for Ahern, Schromm, and Taggart but the shots just would not fall.
“We played some good offense but right now we’re having a tough time shooting,” said Herber. “Part of that is Attleboro and the teams we’re playing but part of it is us. To use a golf reference, we have the ‘yips’ right now.”
Houle picked off a pass and assisted on a fast break bucket for Fatima McDonald that built the lead to 10 and Houle later completed a three-point play to answer an Ahern layup and essentially ice the game.
“At halftime we kept saying they’re starting to tire,” said Patch. “On the offensive side, even when we weren’t running a play, just put pressure on them and make them work and wear them down a little bit.”
North has dropped three straight games this week and the three-time defending league champions are now two games behind league leading Mansfield in the Kelley-Rex standings.
Herber is hopeful that this level of competition will lead to positive results later in the season, but at the moment the shooting woes are making for some tough nights. He added, “Unfortunately, there’s no easy nights in the league and no easy nights on our schedule. We’ll be battle-tested but hopefully we can get a little offensive flow at some point.”
Attleboro (8-1, 4-1) will travel to Milford in its next game on Tuesday, while North Attleboro (3-3, 3-2) will travel to Canton.
Josh Perry can be contacted at JoshPerry@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.
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