Tag: Emily Houle

The Campus Report: Winter 2017 Update

Hockomock Campus Report

The HockomockSports.com Campus Report is an update on former Hockomock League athletes currently competing in collegiate sports. If you would like to submit an update, please e-mail info@HockomockSports.com.

Babson men’s basketball has been the top ranked DIII college program for a good portion of the season and former HockomockSports.com Player of the Year and Franklin Panther Sam Bohmiller has played a vital role. The Beavers (21-1) are riding a 12-game winning streak heading into Saturday’s visit to Clark. Bohmiller has started in 20 games this season (missing two for an injury), averaging 29 minutes per game. Shooting at 53.4% from the field (49.2% from three point), Bohmiller is averaging 7.6 points per game as well as 2.2 assists, 2.6 rebounds and nearly 1.0 steals per game.

Mansfield’s Joe Collins has had a terrific year for Southern New Hampshire’s hockey team through 26 games. A graduate student, Collins is second on the team with 11 goals, first on the team with 21 assists and leads the Penmen with 32 points. His +8 is second on the team and his three game-winning goals is tied for the most on the team. Collins is currently riding a three game point streak, recording two against Daniel Webster, one against Franklin Pierce and two against Framingham State. Collins will conclude his final regular season on Saturday in Foxboro against Stonehill.

Taunton graduate Angie Martinez etched her name into Mount Ida’s record books twice this season. In early December, Martinez became just the fourth women’s basketball player in program history to join the 1,000 point club. Less than a week later, Martinez became the first ever Mustang to record 1,000 rebounds. She then took her success to another level in January, hauling in her 1,125th career board, making her the all-time women’s rebounding leader in Great Northeast Athletic Conference history. For her senior season, she is third on the team with 9.1 points per game and leads the Mustangs with 12.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.

Bridgewater State currently sits at 13-9 overall and 6-3 in MASCAC play, good enough for third. The Bears are coming off a win over league-leading Salem State in a game that saw Taunton grad Fawaz Mass drop a game-high 23 points and former HockomockSports.com Player of the Year Rocky DeAndrade chipping in with 16 points. Mass (16.2 ppg) and DeAndrade (14.4) are currently the top two in scoring for the Bears while Mansfield’s Greg Romanko, a captain is at 8.8 points per game and Milford’s Michael Soares is at 4.3 points per game. Mass is second on the team in rebounding and DeAndrade leads the Bears in assists. Soares scored a career-high 19 points late last month in a win over MCLA. Romanko also scored a season-high 19 points back in December in a rout of Maine-Augusta.

Bridgewater travels to Worcester State on Saturday to battle Milford graduate Aaron Anniballi and the Lancers. Anniballi turned it on midway through the season and was rewarded, earning starts in the last five games and six of the last seven. In a road trip to league-leading Salem State, Anniballi dropped a career-high 22 points, including a career-best five three pointers made. In the last five games, Anniballi is averaging 11.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game for the Lancers. For the season, he’s second on the team in assists and fourth in scoring despite just seven starts.

Former HockomockSports.com Hockey Player of the Year Ryan Spillane found the back of the net for the first time in his collegiate career, netting one of five goals in Saint Anselm’s win over Daniel Webster. A Franklin High product, Spillane has appeared in 14 games this year, including the last four. He registered his first assist on Friday, February 3rd against Southern Maine and then scored his first goal on Saturday. N

Success on the ice at Saint Anselm is noting new for the Spillane family though, as Kaitlyn Spillane, a junior, continues to be a big piece of the Hawks’ women’s hockey team. After 12 points as a freshman and 24 points as a sophomore, Spillane is already up to 26 points during her junior campaign. Her 26 points is good for second on the team, a combination of 10 goals and 16 assists. She’s currently riding an eight game point streak heading into Friday night’s tilt with Williams. During that stretch, she registered four points in a win over New England College.

Michael Choate has strung together two strong meets for the Boston University swim team. The former KP Warrior had three top three finishes against Boston College, including third in the 100 backstroke (52.79), third in the 200 butterfly (1:58.57) and second in the 200 backstroke (1:52.11). He followed that up with three more top three finishes against Bryant, including second in the 200 free (1:47.26) and third in the 500 free (4:56.08). He was also apart of the 200 medley relay that took third (1:38.76). North Attleboro’s Sarah Hargrave also had solid showings in the same meets. On senior night against BC, she took first in the 500 free (4:57.16) and first in the 200 free relay (1:37.34). Against Bryant, she placed third in the 100 free (54.43) and was apart of the 400 free relay that touched in third (3:49.61).

2016 HockomockSports.com First Team selection Alecia Quinones has been a top option off the bench for UMass Boston this season. The Stoughton High product has come off the bench and appeared in all 22 games for the Beacons, averaging 5.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and shooting nearly 40% from the floor. Quinones showed what she can do when she played 23 minutes earlier this season at Colby College. She scored 20 points on 8/13 shooting in the win for UMass Boston.

A trio of former Hockomock rivals turned teammates are playing a big role for UMass Amherst’s men’s swimming team. Attleboro’s Owen Wright, Franklin’s Austen Sholudko and King Philip’s Chris DiGiacomo have all helped the Minutemen as they head into Atlantic 10 Championships next weekend. In their latest meet against Fordham, Wright took first place in the 50 yard free (21.53), fourth in the 100 yard free and was apart of the 200 yard free relay team that took second place. DiGiacomo took first place in the 200 yard backstroke, second in the 200 yard IM and placed third in the 200 yard free. Sholudko placed fifth overall in the 1000 yard free and was seventh in the 500 yard free.

Bristol Community College has racked up 13 wins so far this season and is averaging an impressive 88.6 points per game as a team. Former HockomockSports.com Boys Basketball Player of the Year and Taunton standout Jose Mercado is currently third on the team in scoring with 13.8 points per game, fifth on the team with 4.5 rebounds a game and second with 2.0 steals. After coming off the bench for the majority of the season, Mercado has worked his way into the starting line up, starting five straight games. In that stretch, he’s averaged 16.4 points, 5.6 boards, 3.2 assists and 2.4 steals for the Bayhawks, who are 4-1 with him in the starting lineup.

Former HockomockSports.com Girls Basketball Player of the Year Kat Tamulionis has found a new home at Babson and recently helped the program to its 600th win. The Foxboro alum has appeared in 14 games, earning her first collegiate start at Mount Holyoke on January 21st. In the program’s 600th win, a 72-51 win over Emerson, Tamulionis scored a career-high eight points Another former Foxboro standout Ashley Snyder has made nine appearances for the Beavers so far this season, playing a season-high 12 minutes against Emory & Henry earlier this season.

There were plenty of Hockomock alums on the court on Wednesday night when Wheaton visited Clark University. Foxboro’s Rob Lowey and Alex DuBrow dressed for the visitors while Milford’s David Mercier and Joe Atkinson are both captains for the Cougars. In just his second collegiate start, DuBrow made a big difference down the stretch for the Lyons. The freshman hit a pair of free throws with 51 seconds left to give Wheaton a four point lead and then stole an inbounds pass with 22 seconds left, adding one more free throw to help ice the game. DuBrow tied a career-high with 13 points in the game while adding four assists. On the season, he’s averaging 6.8 points, 2.7 assists and leads the team with a 1.6 assist/turnover ratio. Mercier had a game-high 21 points while Atkinson added 16 in the loss. For the season, Mercier is fourth on the team with 10.7 points and fourth in rebounding at 4.2. Atkinson is the team’s top rebounder with 7.5 boards a game and is averaging 11.8 points for Clark (13-9).

Taunton’s Dylan Schrama had a strong showing in Clark University’s meet with WPI at the end of January. Competing in five events, Schrama was first for Clark in three events and touched the wall before anyone else in one event. He took first place overall in the 200 yard IM, clocking in at 2:15.42. He also placed fourth in the 50 yard backstroke and took third in the 100 yard free style. He was also a member of the 200 yard medley relay that came in third overall.

King Philip graduate and current Northeastern sophomore Carly Schnabel was tabbed as the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Swimmer of the Week. She’s the first Northeastern swimmer to earn the honor this season. Competing at Harvard, Schnabel turned in a historic performance in the 1,000-yard free by setting a new program record in 10:03.95 for first place. Her time is over seven seconds ahead of the next closest conference competitor for the event this season.

Keene State snapped a two-game skid with the help of King Philip alum Jimmy Layman. The junior forward came off the bench to score 13 points (5/8 FG), had four rebounds and came away with three steals. The Owls (15-7) recently were ranked 10th in the Northeast in the NCAA Regional Rankings for DIII. Layman has a been a top contributor off the bench so far this season, playing in 21 games and averaging 3.8 points per game and 2.1 rebounds. He scored a season-high 17 points back in December at WPI.

Less than a week after Mansfield junior Tyler Boulter set a new program record for most threes in a game (10), older brother and former Hockomock League MVP Ryan Boulter decided it was his turn to set a record. In Merrimack’s home game against Southern Connecticut, Boulter put on a show – connecting on nine three pointers to tie the school record. The sophomore forward finished with a career-high 40 points in the Warriors’ overtime win. Although just a sophomore, Boulter is currently leading the Warriors with 18.2 points per game, averaging 3.3 threes in contest. He also is hauling in 4.4 boards on average.

UMass Dartmouth women’s basketball program is used to having a Hockomock alum leading the way, and this year is no different. After years of dominance from North Attleboro’s Meg Ronaghan, now it’s Franklin’s Alicia Kutil that’s leading the way for the Corsairs (19-3). Kutil is second with 13.6 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per game, while adding 2.4 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.2 steals. She was named the Little East Conference Player of the Week earlier this week.

Mansfield’s George Apostolopoulos qualified for the NEISDA Division II/III Championships in the 50 breaststroke over the weekend at the Bridgewater State Bears Invitational. Apostolopoulos posted a time of 35.43 seconds in the 50 breaststroke to qualify. Attleboro’s Dylon Willis helped the Bears to a pair of wins at a tri-meet at the end of January, beating Husson and Regis. Willis was apart of the 200 medley relay team that came in second, took first in the 50 yard breaststroke (28.08) and the 100 yard breaststroke and was second in the 100 IM.

Also at Bridgewater State, Mansfield’s Abbie Grant and Danielle Souza, North Attleboro’s Adi Tobias and King Philip’s Emily Garven are swimming for the Bears. At the BSU Bears Invitational, Grant was second in the 50 yard butterfly and the 100 yard IM, Souza took third in the 200 yard free, Tobias grabbed second in the 100 yard butterfly and Garven won the 50 yard backstroke as well as the 100 yard free.

Attleboro’s Bri Hochwarter is averaging 13.6 points per game and has been a big reason why Wheelock College women’s basketball has registered 10 wins this season. She is also averaging 3.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.2 steals for the Wildcats. Hochwarter is on a strong stretch, scoring in double figures in four straight games. She’s hit 14 threes in that stretch, averaging 16.8 points per game.

Former Mansfield Hornet and Winnipeg Jets draft pick Erik Foley is enjoying another successful year at Providence. After an impressive freshman year (seven goals, 12 assists), he’s already topped his rookie point total during his sophomore year. He’s tied for a team-high 10 goals and also has 13 assists, good for 23 points – third for the Friars. Providence is 17-8-4 on the season and ranked #11 in the country.

With the NEWMAC Championships on the horizon next week, Taunton’s Kyle Werra and WPI’s men swimming team are looking to make a slash. Werra has competed in eight events for the Engineers so far this season. At the Clark University Cougar Invitational, Werra set three best times for the season. In the 200 free, he clocked in a 1:57.85, in the 100 breaststroke he touched the wall at 1:08.12 and in the 400 medley, he timed at 4:45.18.

Oliver Ames alum Caitlyn Abela continues to be a big piece for Saint Anselm. The Hawks, who have former Canton assistant Colleen Moriarty on the staff, stand at 15-8 on the season. Abela is second on the team at 10.9 points per game, scoring a season-high 23 earlier this year in a win at Daemen. She’s also averaged 3.3 rebounds a game this year (season-high 11 at Adelphi) and 1.1 assists (season-high 4 vs. NYIT).

A pair of former Hockomock rivals are now teammates at Merrimack. Franklin’s Lexi Martin and Attleboro’s Emily Houle are both contributing for the Warriors (11-11) this season. Martin, a sophomore, has started in all 22 games this season, averaging 8.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. She scored a season-high 19 points in a win over New Haven in early January and had a stretch in which she scored in double figures in six of eight games. Houle, a freshman and last year’s HockomockSports.com Girls Basketball Player of the Year, has played in 11 games, scoring five points in a game at Adelphi against former head coach Missy Traversi and hitting a three in a close win over St. Michael’s last week.

Former Mansfield Hornet Kevin Conner has scored 13 points in back to back games for Mount Ida heading into this week’s contest with Rivier. The Mustangs (14-8 overall) are currently in fourth place in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference. Conner, who was slowed by an injury to start the season, has started in every game he’s been available for. In a win at Rivier, Conner was a perfect 6/6 from the field and in a loss to conference-leading Albertus Magnus, Conner added 13 points including a pair of threes. In 17 games, Conner is averaging 8.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists a game.

Attleboro’s Kerri Beland is having a strong sophomore season for the Salve Regina women’s basketball game. The former Attleboro Bombardier is leading the Seahawks in scoring with 12.5 points per game, shooting 40% from the floor and 36% from three point. She’s also fourth on the team in rebounding with 5.3 boards.

Ever since the turn of the calendar, former Franklin standout Chris Rodgers has gone on a tear for WPI. After coming off the bench for the start of the season, Rodgers picked up his first start on December 6th. In his last seven starts, dating back to January 18th, Rodgers has been one of the Engineers top options on offense. He scored a season-high 23 points and hauled in nine rebounds in a narrow loss to Springfield and scored in double figures in six of those seven games. He’s averaging 15.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in that span for WPI, who have four wins in that same stretch.

The 2016 Hockomock Girls Basketball All Stars & HMs

Below are the official Hockomock League Girls Basketball All Stars, selected by the coaches in the league.

Hockomock League MVP

Emily Houle, Attleboro

Hockomock League All Stars

Sarah Deyo, Attleboro
Emily Houle, Attleboro
Emma Murphy, Canton
Cassidy Harrison, Foxboro
Ashley Sampson, Foxboro
Aubrie Kutil, Franklin
Lauren Rudolph, Franklin
Meg Hill, Mansfield
Jen Peel, Mansfield
Caroline Maher, Mansfield
Kate Irwin, Milford
Ashley Ahern, North Attleboro
Francesca Calabraro, Oliver Ames
Kayla Raymond, Oliver Ames
Alyssa Piazza, Sharon
Alecia Quinones, Stoughton

Honorable Mentions

Sam Pierce, Attleboro
Hannah Jerrier, Canton
Lily Sykes, Foxboro
Olivia Adiletto, Franklin
Maddie Purdue, King Philip
Jackie Carchedi, Mansfield
Nicole Dahlgren, Milford
Emily Peters, North Attleboro
Samantha Bamford, Oliver Ames
Jordan Motley, Stoughton
Charlotte Ransom, Sharon
Jordan Wade, Taunton

Deyo, Vlashi Carry Bombardiers into Quarters

Attleboro girls basketball
Sarah Deyo scored 27 points and pulled in 17 rebounds to lead the Bombardiers to a first round win over Durfee. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

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ATTLEBORO, Mass. – In the first round of last year’s Div. 1 South tournament, Attleboro faced Needham just a week after beating the Rockets for the second time in the season. Trying to beat the same opponent for the third time proved too much, as the Needham went on the road and upset Attleboro.

Less than a week after beating Durfee for the second time this season, Attleboro opened this year’s tournament with a third game against the Hilltoppers. Junior forward Sarah Deyo admitted that the Needham game was on her mind as she prepared for Tuesday’s match-up.

“I was thinking about it all day,” Deyo said. “I was like, crap last year we played Needham and then we lost to them in the first round and I hope it’s not that result again.”

Deyo almost single-handedly ensured there would be no repeat of last year’s upset. She scored 25 points and dominated the glass, pulling in 17 rebounds, as the Bombardiers held off a second half charge to beat Durfee 57-44 and advance to the sectional quarterfinal.

“That’s Sarah,” said Attleboro coach Rick Patch with a rueful shake of the head. “When you need it, she’s up for it. She was doing a lot of things. She was passing the ball a little bit to get people looks…she just feeds it to everybody else and that’s great.”

Attleboro got off to a slow start, handing Durfee a quick 5-0 lead, but then Deyo started to go to work. She scored off a Sam Pierce assist, followed by a three from Emily Houle, and then managed to corral a loose ball for a layup and score off an offensive rebound. She had seven in the first and finished the quarter with an assist on a jumper by Grace Mayer.

Deyo continued the good work in the second, adding another nine points including a perfect 7-7 from the line (she was 8-9 from the line in the first half but 1-7 in the second). Houle chipped in with five of her 11 points, including a step-back three that was quickly followed by another long-range shot by Fatima McDonald.

Attleboro led 29-19 at the half and things felt like they were falling into place for a comfortable win, but in the third quarter (as they did last Wednesday) the Hilltoppers made a charge. Jordyn Gauvin (team-high 16 points) scored five in the third and a Reagan McDonald jumper got Durfee as close as five points at 37-32.

The Bombardiers needed a spark in the third quarter and were not finding success going through the usual troika of Deyo, Houle, and Pierce, so in stepped senior forward Emma Vlashi.

Another player that missed time this season with injury, Vlashi stepped off the bench and provided instant offense, scoring eight of her 12 points in the quarter. She scored on a layup off a Deyo drop pass then on the break after a Mish Logie steal and assist and capped it off a great touch pass from Pierce across the paint.

“Emma just has that energy when she plays within herself,” said Patch. “She gave us a little bit of a spark when the lead got down to seven, five and jumped it back to 11 just by her offensive rebounding and her finishing near the basket.”

“That was so huge,” added Deyo. “Emma really helped us out; she was the ‘X’ factor. Without her I don’t think we would have had the game that we had.”

Deyo gave the hosts a little momentum heading to the fourth with an offensive rebound at the buzzer that extended the lead to 39-32. Houle followed that with a three on Attleboro’s first possession of the final quarter and Logie added another from the corner a few seconds later.

The lead grew to 11 when Deyo scored plus the foul off an inbounds play, before Vlashi added her final four points to put the Bombardiers ahead 52-39 with time winding down. Deyo capped it with a pair of putbacks, as Attleboro crushed the Hilltoppers on the glass to pull out the win.

“Last game they beat us on the boards both offensively and defensively, so a big aspect of the game was make sure we get the rebounds and don’t let them get second chance points,” said Deyo, who was helped on the glass by Houle with nine rebounds, McDonald with eight and Pierce and Valshi each with seven.

Patch noticed a different attitude for his team in this year’s playoff opener compared to last season against Needham. He explained, “I think the mindset last year was uncertainty…I think the expectation this year is we expect to win.”

He continued, “We always talk about making plays and I think last year they were hopeful and this year they expect to do it.”

The Bombardiers confidence will be put to the test when they host No. 5 seed Wellesley on Thursday night in the Div. 1 South quarterfinal.

Josh Perry can be contacted at JoshPerry@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.

Tuesday’s Schedule & Scoreboard – 03/01/16

Today’s playoff games are listed below.
Girls Basketball
D1 South
#4 Attleboro, 57 vs. #13 Durfee, 44 – Final – Sarah Deyo led the way for the Bombardiers with 25 points and 17 rebounds. Emma Vlashi came off the bench to score 12 points, all in the second half, and pulled in seven rebounds, while Emily Houle scored 11 and grabbed nine rebounds. Attleboro will host No. 5 seed Wellesley on Thursday.
Hockey
D2 South
#6 North Attleboro, 9 vs. #11 Taunton 0 – Final
#12 Oliver Ames, 1 vs. #5 Pembroke 5 – Final

Attleboro’s Emily Houle Reaches Grand Milestone

Emily Houle
Attleboro senior Emily Houle is joined by her family after reaching the 1,000-point mark for her career. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

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FALL RIVER, Mass. – In the fourth quarter against Mansfield on Monday night, with a standing room-only crowd packed into the James Albertini Gym providing an atmosphere unlike any other girls’ basketball game this season, Emily Houle rose up in the fourth quarter for a baseline jumper to try and tie the game.

The ball seemed to be at least halfway down, before it spun back up and out. As the final seconds wore down on an eventual Mansfield win and with Houle stuck at 998 career points, some wanted the Hornets to allow a layup and let her achieve the milestone.

That did not happen and Houle was back in action again on Wednesday night against Durfee at the Luke Urban Field House and a strong traveling contingent of Attleboro fans had made the 30-minute the trip to Fall River with signs, balloons, and plenty of cameras to record the moment when the wait for history was over.

The fans did not wait long. With 2:27 off the clock and the Bombardiers trailing 4-0, Houle drove to the basket and banked in a runner to become the fifth girls’ basketball player in Attleboro history to reach 1,000 points and the first since Sarah Wright in 1999.

“When I went up for the layup I was just like, please go in…please,” said Houle with a smile that was as much relief as joy. “I don’t think I was forcing anything; nobody really knows unless you’re in that position but it’s in the back of my head.”

“So, just to have that over with i can just focus on everything else and my team doesn’t have to be like, get it to Emily.”

Her teammates stormed onto the court when the basket was made, surrounding her, before she broke off for photos with family and friends (and even a nice token from the Durfee team, which knew that she was chasing 1,000).

The game took a few minutes to restart and the teams seemed to need a couple more minutes to get back into it, but there was a different feel about the Bombardiers, who head coach Rick Patch admitted had a weight lifted now that it was not worrying about the milestone.

He said, “We’re trying to run plays for her, doing different things, and now it’s a gimmick situation with triangle and two, box and ones, diamond and ones, and where can you get it to her.”

“I’m just really happy for her…She’s really the face of the community. Everyone loves Emily.”

Houle has been a four-year varsity player, but she admitted that there was no way that she could have envisioned when she stepped on the floor as a freshman that some day she would be placing her name on the 1,000-point banner.

“When I was a freshman, I was just happy to get out there and not dribble the ball off my foot,” Houle joked. 

“My goal has always to help my team any way I can and by junior year scoring was something that I was pretty decent at, so I just continued to try and do that for my team and I ended up here.”

Coming into the season as one of the league’s top returning scorers, many people around the Hock believed that Houle would be able to get the points she needed, but in just the second game of the season she went down with a knee injury that she worried could have put her high school career in jeopardy.

“When I got hurt I was unsure of what was going to happen, I didn’t know how long I was going to be out,” Houle reflected. “But to come back and be able to play with this, I think that happened for a reason too.”

“When I went down that game, I don’t think I could picture myself standing here right now, but the fact that I am shows a lot.”

Averaging nearly 17 points per game this season, as of stats compiled on Feb. 8, Houle did not allow the injury to slow her down. By helping to lead the Bombardiers to a winner-take-all showdown with Mansfield for the league title, she was voted the Hockomock MVP by the league’s coaches.

Houle credited her team for helping her throughout the season. She said, “An individual accomplishment like this doesn’t happen in a team sport without great teammates, so I’m just thankful that it worked out the way it did. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

There was also plenty of support from the Attleboro fanbase, which packed the gym all week after Houle scored 31 against Taunton to get the milestone within reach.

“I had like basically my whole town behind me, which I’m really grateful for,” she explained. “Even here we definitely had more blue than any other color. I know they’re there for team but they’re also supporting me and having all the little girls run up to me means more than any basket I’ve ever scored.”

Houle laughed and added, “The one thing I’m glad about it is that I don’t have to see my Fatheads anymore.”

The Bombardiers started to pull away before halftime on Wednesday, but a strong push in the third quarter by Isabel McDonnell and the Hilltoppers closed the gap to 33-31. Sam Pierce buried a three just before the end of the third and Attleboro ran away with a 19-7 fourth quarter to pull out a 55-38 win.

Sarah Deyo led the way for Attleboro with 16 points and Houle knocked down a fourth quarter three to finish with 13. It moved the Bombardiers to 20-2 on the season and could possibly see them host Durfee in the first round of the state tournament.

Considering all of the success that Attleboro has had this season, Houle could easily shrug off the frustration of having to wait a game or two longer than she hoped to achieve her goal.

“’m kind of happy that it worked out the way it did,” she said. “I felt like my team was getting stressed over it so in that aspect I wanted to get it over with and I wanted my team to go back to being free and not be worrying about me.”

“We’re 20-2 and we’re having a great season. No matter what happened, I’m happy.”

MIAA basketball tournament pairings will come out on Friday.

Josh Perry can be contacted at JoshPerry@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.

Wednesday’s Schedule & Scoreboard – 02/24/16

Today’s games are listed below.
Boys Basketball
Attleboro, 75 vs. Durfee, 67 – Final – Junior Jake Dunkley scored a game-high 19 points and pulled in nine rebounds, junior Andrew Milliken added 16 points, sophomore Nate Douglas chipped in with 12 points, senior Brent Cook had 10 points and six rebounds, junior Berlyns Abraham scored 10 points and finished with seven rebounds and senior Kyle Murphy had five points and 12 rebounds.
Franklin, 70 @ South High, 41 – Final

Mansfield, 58 vs. BC High, 44 – Final – Mansfield raced out to a 15-4 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. Matt Ehrlich had a team-high 16 points, Max Boen scored 13 points and Sam Goldberg had nine points and nine rebounds. 
Girls Basketball
Attleboro, 55 @ Durfee, 38 – Final – Sarah Deyo led all scorers with 16 points for the Bombardiers, while Emily Houle added 13 and with a first quarter layup became the fifth Attleboro girls’ basketball player (and first since 1999) to reach the 1,000-point plateau. The Bombardiers closed with a 22-7 run after Durfee cut the lead to just two at 33-31 in the third quarter.

Foxboro, 53 vs. Bridgewater-Raynham, 41 – Final – Ashley Sampson led the way with 12 points while Kristen Bortolotti added 11 points for the Warriors. 

King Philip @ Lowell, 7:00
Hockey
Mansfield, 2 @ Winthrop, 4 – Final
North Attleboro, 4 @ Wayland, 0 – Final
King Philip, 3 @ Bridgwater-Raynham, 5 – Final
Girls Hockey
King Philip, 3 vs. Norwell, 2 – Final

Hornets Beat Attleboro and Clinch League Title

Mansfield girls basketball
Mansfield celebrated a victory over Attleboro that clinched the program’s second Hockomock League title. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

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MANSFIELD, Mass. – Four years ago, Mansfield won only four games. Those freshmen are now seniors and on Monday night, they capped their final season in Mansfield colors by climbing a ladder, scissors in hand, to cut down the nets at the Albertini Gym.
“This is huge,” said senior Caroline Maher, moments before she got the chance to go up the ladder and celebrate with a piece of the net. “My freshman year we had four wins and now we have 18 or 19, I don’t even know, and we’re going to the state tournament. I’m so happy and so proud of us.”
The Hornets used a strong second half to exact a measure of revenge on Attleboro with a 56-43 victory in front a standing room only, raucous crowd to split the season series with the Bombardiers and clinched the Kelley-Rex division title. It is the program’s second Hockomock title and first since 2011.
Maher added, ““I remember watching the 2010-11 team winning it and I thought, oh I want to be up there on the ladder cutting that string.”
Mansfield coach Mike Redding said of his senior class, “They just keep getting better; a lot of camaraderie, young kids stepping in to help and just a lot of fun to be around. I’m really proud of what they did.”
Attleboro came into the game with its sights set on the program’s first Hockomock title and jumped out to an early lead, up 12-8 after the first quarter. Junior Sarah Deyo sparked the Bombardiers with seven of her team-high 15 in the first, including an early three and a couple of layups.
Juliana Newell (12 points) kept Mansfield in the game with four in the first and another six points in the second, most coming off her familiar mid-range jumper. Jen Peel stepped up in the second and scored half of her game-high 18 points in the quarter with drives into the middle of the Attleboro defense.
“She got in the lane the other time,” said Attleboro coach Rick Patch, “but this time she was looking to score. We made the adjustment to just keep her in front of us, but there were times that we lost her.”
A Jordyn Lako three had given Attleboro a 22-15 lead, but Peel scored five straight points to cut the lead to four. After a pair of free throws by Fatima McDonald, Peel got another layup and a pair from the line to bring Mansfield within two. After Sam Pierce (10 points) buried a three, Newell closed out the first half with a runner that kept the Hornets within three at 27-24.
In the third quarter, Meg Hill took over the game. The sophomore center scored all 11 of her points in the third and a big chunk of her game-high 15 rebounds and four blocks.
Redding said, “We kept kidding her the last couple weeks about going into ‘Beast Mode.’ You can be a nice kid off the court but you’ve got to step on and ante up and as a sophomore she did that in the third quarter. She changed the tone of the game.”
Hill started the half with a layup off an inbound pass by Peel (five assists) but Mish Logie followed with a corner three to extend the lead to four. Peel answered that with a transition basket plus the foul.
“For all the good things she does, we’ll live with a couple of turnovers,” said Redding of Peel. She can always seem to find a lane. As tight as things are, she always finds a way through.”
After a Pierce jumper, Hill scored four straight to give Mansfield the lead at 33-32, its first since the opening basket of the game. She continued to dominate the paint on a personal 8-0 run that put Mansfield up by five, a lead that the Hornets would carry into the fourth quarter.
“There were a couple calls, not blaming the ref, it was just reffed in a way that we haven’t seen all year so to make that adjustment – we just couldn’t,” Patch explained. “We had to focus on boxing out harder…it was making it much tougher for our kids.”
Deyo hit a three late in the third quarter and then added another one to start the fourth and bring Attleboro back within two. After a Newell layup and a pair of free throws from Jackie Carchedi, Emma Vlashi (six points) scored on a drive to the hoop and another shot in the paint and it was 45-43.
Coming into the game, Emily Houle needed four points to hit 1,000 for her career, but in the fourth quarter she had been held to only a pair of free throws. At several points in the game, Houle seemed more like a decoy as the offense flowed in different directions, but she finally got free on the baseline with a chance to tie the game.
The jumper was halfway down but spun out. Attleboro did not score another point in the game.
“It’s baffling,” said Patch about the struggle to get Houle the ball. “We’re coming out of timeouts calling certain plays and I don’t know if it’s the environment or whatever, we trained for it, we practiced for it.
Mansfield forced a steal from McDonald and Peel raced the length of the court to score plus the foul, putting the Hornets up by six. On the next trip, Carchedi took a deep three that was off line, but the senior was the first to react and rebounded her own miss to score a dagger basket.
“I don’t know who our MVP is but I think she may have my vote just because she does so much at both ends of the floor,” said Redding of Carchedi. “She really does everything for us. She doesn’t score a lot of points for us but that offensive rebound and score was huge.”
The Hornets knocked down free throws in the closing minutes to clinch the victory and with it the title. Maher got her wish and was able to stand atop the ladder and hold her piece of the net.
“We’ve played together for so long, longer than I can remember,” she said of the senior class. “The fourth grade ‘A’ team, but for a few kids that went to Feehan this is the team.”
Redding added, “Just a great game with a lot of players stepping up…There’s a 50-50 chance that we could play in the quarterfinal, so get ready for the rubber match.”
Mansfield will await the tournament pairings that will come out this weekend, while Attleboro will close out its regular season (and Emily Houle will continue her quest for 1,000) on Wednesday at Durfee.
Josh Perry can be contacted at JoshPerry@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.

Milestone Delayed But Attleboro Avoids Trap

Attleboro girls basketball
Emily Houle scored 17 points on Friday afternoon leaving her four points shy of 1,000 heading into Monday’s game with Mansfield. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

Josh PerryFollowJoshPerry

ATTLEBORO, Mass. – The crowd was packed in behind and across from the Attleboro bench, with balloons, signs, and more celebrating senior guard Emily Houle and her quest to become the first female to score 1,000 career points for Attleboro since Sarah Wright in 1999, which she needed 21 to attain on Friday afternoon in her final home game of the regular season.

Houle scored 17, all in the second half, so the full celebration will have to wait until Attleboro’s game at Mansfield on Monday night, but the Bombardiers had enough in reserve to avoid the trap of facing non-league Dartmouth after a week off and three days before the game that will decide the Kelley-Rex title.

Attleboro struggled early on against Dartmouth’s triangle-and-two defense but managed to pull out a 48-36 victory on an afternoon that ended with very little attention being paid to the final score.

The Indians, playing less than 24 hours after a loss at Mansfield on Thursday night, started the game with Cali Andrade doing her best to deny Houle the ball. With the Bombardiers trying to get Houle the ball as often as possible to help her get to the milestone, Attleboro’s offense bogged down in the first quarter and the top scoring team in the Hock was held to just six points.

“We do some stuff on it but we haven’t seen enough of it,” said Attleboro coach Rick Patch about the triangle and two defense. “I think with the not playing for a week, the sideshow of the thousand and the electricity in the air, the kids were tight at the beginning.”

Senior guard Fatima McDonald (eight points) was Attleboro’s lone source of offense, scoring all six points in the first, including a drive to the hoop and a three. In the second, sophomore Sam Pierce chipped in with four of her 10 points and Grace Mayer and Mish Logie each contributed layups.

At halftime, the Bombardiers trailed 17-14 and needed to find an answer to all of the attention being put on Houle and Sarah Deyo (seven blocks, 10 rebounds).

“I thought if we’re not careful this could get away because a similar thing happened at Stoughton when we were down a bunch of players,” said Patch.

“I was disappointed in our defensive rebounding…because that’s effort, that’s discipline and regardless of everything else that’s going on we just weren’t able to do that.”

In the third quarter, the Bombardiers clamped down on defense. Kelsey Shurtleff (team-high 12 points) knocked down a pair of threes but the Indians were no longer getting anything inside and Attleboro took control of the glass.

Patch explained, “I think the person that started that fire was Sam Pierce. She’s that link, when she plays well then  we’re at another level. She came out for five minutes and played very well and it kind of spread [the lead].”

A McDonald layup and a Deyo putback pulled Attleboro within one at 19-18, then Pierce assisted on a Logie three that once again cut the lead to one. In transition Houle finally got on the board with a layup that gave Attleboro its first lead since it was 2-0. Pierce added to it with a basket on an inbound and a steal and layup.

Houle (11 rebounds) tacked on a three off a missed Dartmouth free throw and then another bucket in transition that had the crowd on its feet and pushed the Attleboro lead to 34-25 heading to the fourth.

Dartmouth scored the first four points of the final quarter to hang around, but Attleboro broke the game open with an 11-0 run, including seven points from Houle that put her at 14 for the night and needing seven points in three minutes to reach 1,000.

With Attleboro leading by 16 at 45-29, the focus of both benches turned to the impending milestone.

“In the fourth quarter, when I saw we were up 16, I told her that everything is going through you,” said Patch. “I said, we’ve got the game, let’s just get her the ball.”

The Indians turned to a four corners offense in the closing minutes, clearly with no intention of trying to mount a comeback and purely interested in limiting Attleboro’s offensive possessions. Meanwhile, the Bombardiers were fouling intentionally to put the Indians on the line so they could then get the ball back.

Now the focus will turn to Monday night and the matchup with Mansfield that will determine the league title. The boys’ game against the Hornets has been moved up to 5 p.m., while the girls’ start was pushed back to 7:15 to allow both fanbases to see the league finale (and cheer Houle when she reaches 1,000).

“I think at this point with her being so close…she’s going to get it,” said Patch. “We’re just going to play the game. I’m glad that we got it close enough that it won’t be a sideshow on Monday; it will just be Mansfield and Attleboro going at it for the championship.”

Josh Perry can be contacted at JoshPerry@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.

Friday’s Schedule & Scoreboard – 02/19/16

Today’s games are listed below.
Boys Basketball
Milford, 48 @ Foxboro, 66 – Final – Foxboro senior Alex DuBrow scored all of his team-high 16 points in the second half, adding eight assists and five rebounds. Jason Procaccini had 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists, Rob Lowey had 15 points and nine rebounds and junior Mark Clagg finished with 10 points. Milford’s Dimitry Torres scored a game-high 18 points along with six assists. 

Franklin, 64 @ Catholic Memorial, 87 – Final – Senior Tim Prunier and freshman Jay Dieterle each had nine points for the Panthers.

Taunton, 84 @ King Philip, 60 – Final – Taunton senior Jose Mercado poured in a career-high 31 points while Tommy MacLean had 14 points and Dom Smith added 12 points. King Philip’s Pharoah Davis had a team-high 13 points. 
Girls Basketball
Attleboro, 48 vs. Dartmouth, 36 – Final – Emily Houle led the way for Attleboro with 17 points, all in the second half, which leaves her four points shy of 1,000 for her career. She also had 11 rebounds. Sam Pierce added 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Bombardiers, Fatima McDonald had eight points, and Sarah Deyo had only three points but chipped in with seven blocks and 10 boards.

Canton, 47 vs. Blackstone-Millville, 42 – Final – The Bulldogs swept the season series with BMR behind 14 points from Hannah Jerrier and eight apiece from Jess Powers and Meaghan Hunter. Canton turned the game around with a 30-13 second half. 
King Philip, 38 @ Taunton, 37 – Final – Jen Lacroix scored all 12 of her points in the second half to lead the Warriors, who bounced back from a 12-point halftime deficit. Sam Madden added eight points for KP and Riley Dalzell had 10 rebounds. Taunton was led by Alyssa Gibson, who finished with 13 points and 14 boards, and Lily Patneaude, who scored 11 points. 
Milford, 44 @ Foxboro, 61 – Final – The Warriors had three players reach double figures, led by Ashley Sampson’s 14 points. Cassidy Harrison added 11 points and Kristen Bortolotti had 10 points. 

North Attleboro, 47 vs. Durfee, 34 – Final – The Rocketeers were led by junior Caroline Collard with 10 points and Ashley Ahern chipped in with six. 
Sharon, 43 @ Fontbonne, 58 – Final – Senior Alyssa Piazza had 19 points, six rebounds, and five steals for the Eagles in the loss. 
Girls Hockey
Canton, 0 @ Whitman-Hanson, 2 – Final