ATTLEBORO, Mass. – In its first home playoff game since 2017 and likely its final home game in the current gym, Attleboro (16-7) came out flying against No. 20 seed North Andover. The Bombardiers scored 21 points in the opening eight minutes, slicing through the Scarlet Knights defense and making plays on both ends of the floor.
Unfortunately for the hosts, the momentum was hard to sustain. The Bombardiers would score only 25 points over the final 24 minutes, and North Andover’s three stars found the range on the other end, scoring a combined 47. The Scarlet Knights pulled the upset, winning 53-46 and advancing to the second round.
“We’ve been struggling with shooting for a while so we got a lot of shots up for the past few days,” said Attleboro coach Bri Bracken. “Coming out in the third quarter, we were just flatlined and they shot lights out. I thought the kids still played hard the whole way through. They’re a good shooting team and they shot lights out and we couldn’t hit.”
The energy in the gym was high at the start, as Attleboro entered the night on a six-game win streak. Carried by a big crowd, the Bombardiers jumped out to a double digit lead.
Meghan Gordon (10 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, and four steals) buried a corner three to get the game started and Lindsey Perry (11 points) grabbed an offensive rebound and scored with a scoop plus the foul to make it 6-0. Perry assisted on a Kayla Goldrick basket and beat her marker on a back-cut for two more.
Lily Routhier beat the buzzer with a put-back and Gordon added her second three to push the lead to 17-5. Vanessa Ellis (team-high 14 points and eight rebounds) provided good minutes off the bench and her layup off a Rylie Camacho pass put the Bombardiers ahead 21-8 after one.
Things cooled off considerably in the second, as Attleboro was held to just five points. Perry picked off a pass and the possession ended with a Gordon pass into Ellis for a basket plus the foul. A pull-up jumper by Goldrick (eight points) pushed the lead to 15, but North Andover went on a 7-0 run to close out the half.
Jenna Papell (17 points) scored five and Hannah Martin (13 points) turned a steal into a fast break layup. Despite the struggles offensively, Attleboro still went into the locker room leading 26-18, but the visitors had life and this time momentum did carry over through the break.
North Andover scored 20 points in the third quarter, with Papell, Martin, and Jacqueline Rogers (17 points) accounting for all of them, including three from beyond the arc.
Attleboro kept battling to try and stay in front. Goldrick made a nice drive to the rim and finished with the left hand to make it 31-28. After a North Andover basket, Ellis kept a possession alive with an offensive rebound and fed it to Goldrick for a pull-up jumper. Papell tied the game for the first time with a three and Rogers put the Scarlet Knights in front for the first time with an offensive rebound, put-back, and the free throw.
“Even towards the end, I was saying guys shoot the ball,” Bracken explained. “They would take a dribble like they didn’t know what to do and almost being too passive.” She dismissed the idea that lack of playoff experience might have made the young Bombardiers timid as North Andover came back, “I thought Vanessa did very well, Kayla, and Rylie coming in, they were pretty poised.”
Ellis got two back with yet another offensive board and Gordon, who picked up her fourth foul in the third quarter, got her first basket since the opening quarter with a drive that gave the Bombardiers a 37-36 lead, but Martin hit a pair of free throws to put the visitors in front by one heading to the fourth.
“I had to sit her in the fourth quarter because she had four fouls and I think that was getting into her head,” Bracken said of Gordon’s offensive struggles. “I told her, keep shooting, get to the rim, see the ball go through and hopefully it will change.”
After Ellis tied the game at 39-39 with two free throws, North Andover went on an 8-0 run to take the lead for good. Perry set up Ellis for a layup with about two minutes to play and then had a tough left-handed finish that made it 49-46, but with time running out fast. Martin and Rogers would go 4-for-4 at the line to seal the win.
“I told them, I don’t know when the last time we’ve done this, maybe four years, but 16-6,” said Bracken about a season that started with uncertainty after she took over as coach in mid-November and ended with the third-highest win total since Attleboro joined the Hockomock League.
“We had small wins throughout the season and that’s what we need to work on. We can’t think of our season, oh we lost a playoff game, we’re terrible. We’re not. We’re a good team. Playoffs is a different ball game, anyone can win, doesn’t matter the record.”
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