Ruter’s Towering Performance Carries Foxboro Past South

FOXBORO, Mass. – In the opening round, Foxboro coach Lisa Downs said that sophomore center Addie Ruter looked nervous at the start and it took her a quarter to get into the flow of the game. Apparently, Ruter got all the nerves out because in Tuesday night’s Div. 2 Sweet Sixteen game against previously undefeated South High (Worcester), she dominated.

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Ruter scored a career-high 31 points (19 combined between the second and third quarters) and pulled down 16 rebounds, taking advantage of the size mismatch in the paint to power Foxboro to a 71-55 victory and a spot in the quarterfinal.

“I tried my hardest to calm my nerves before the game,” Ruter explained, “and I came out strong knowing that I had the advantage and that I was going to keep doing that. It’s definitely a confidence booster, those first few points, and then you keep it rolling.

Foxboro coach Lisa Downs said of Ruter, “They didn’t have a lot of height, so we knew we had to get it into her offensively and she did a great job of keeping the ball up. She did a really great job of timing her jump, keeping the ball up, and going up strong with it.”

Early in the game it was a contrast of styles. Foxboro was trying to get the ball to the rim, whether on dribble drives or with Ruter posting up, while the Colonels were bombing away from three. Arianna Gonzalez (17 points), Jaiyla Colon (12 points), and Jaizzy Santiago (eight points) each knocked down triples for South in the opening quarter.

Foxboro was willing to work the ball around in the half-court, probing for an opening. Ruter got off to a quick start, burying a pair of foul line jumpers. An Erin Foley defensive rebound turned into a run out bucket for Camryn Collins (16 points, nine rebounds, and five assists), and Kailey Sullivan (20 points) beat her marker off the dribble for an and-one.

Ruter added two more on an offensive rebound, but South got a basket in the closing seconds to cut the gap to 15-11 after one. 


Collins hit a tough runner and then her steal led to a Sullivan layup to push the lead to six. South got baskets from Gonzalez and Santiago to cut the deficit to just two, but the Warriors put together a 10-0 run to take control of the game. The Colonels never got closer than eight from that point on.

After Ruter got the run started with a baseline jumper and another put-back, Sullivan helped open up the gap by drilling a pair of threes.

“That was huge for us,” Downs said about Sullivan getting going from the outside. “We saw against Holliston (in the first round), she was missing a lot in the first quarter and she kind of sets the tone. You saw that first shot go in and it was a sigh of relief. We just played a little more relaxed.”

Bryan Bascones, who had the unenviable task of trying to match up with Ruter in the paint, would grab an offensive rebound to make it 32-24, but Ruter answered with back-to-back baskets and Foxboro went into the locker room up a dozen.

Sullivan kept firing away to start the second half, draining her third three and then getting to the rim with a nice move on the baseline. Foxboro was dominating on the glass. In addition to Ruter and Collins, Foley finished with six rebounds and Isabelle Chamberlin grabbed 10 boards for the second straight game.

Downs said, “We had to prevent those outside shots from going in and I think we did a better job of that in the third quarter, just getting out over the screens with our guards and getting a hand up to contest the shots. Obviously the rebounding, we weren’t giving them a second opportunity most times, so they were getting one contested shot.”

Colon tried to bring the Colonels back into the game with a three and a pull-up jumper after a steal, but Sullivan hit a floater, Ruter knocked down a jumper, and Collins nailed a three to go back up by 15.

Foxboro pulled away early in the fourth, pushing the lead to as many as 20 points. Collins made a nice slashing drive for two, Ruter continued to pound away in the paint with six more points, and Ava Hill splashed a three. Santiago and Niama Bleou both hit from beyond the arc and Foxboro got a little sloppy with the big lead, but Collins got another bucket in transition to close out the game and ease any fears of a later comeback.

“It’s lots of fun,” Ruter said of her first playoff experience. “It’s definitely tense, but if you trust your teammates then it’s great.

She continued, “Over the season, we’ve built a lot of trust (in each other). I know, coming into the season, the first few games, I kind of felt like I’d been playing with them my whole life even though it was really new. It’s great team chemistry.”

Foxboro (21-1) will put its 17-game win streak on the line and try to book a place in the Final Four against No. 13 Chicopee, which upset No. 4 Westwood, at home on Friday night.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.