By Josh Perry, Managing Editor
NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. – In the first half, the North Attleboro full-court press was dominating. The Rocketeers smothered Sharon, forcing nine turnovers in the first quarter alone and pulling out to a 21-point advantage by halftime.
The second half was very different. North pulled back into its half-court defense to try and preserve the energy of a short bench, the Eagles turned the ball over less and Sharon cut into the Rocketeers lead, getting it as low as 13 twice in the fourth quarter.
The first half deficit was too large for Sharon to overcome and the Rocketeers, the three-time defending Hockomock League champions, got points from eight of the nine players on the roster to pull out a 57-44 win at the Kenneth Pickering Gym and move to 3-0 on the season.
“They’re a well-coached team,” said North coach Derek Herber, “and they’ve got some players that can do some damage. They posed us some problems on the edge. We played well and luckily we hit some shots early that kept them off-balance.”
The game started with neither team able to find the bottom of the net. It took three minutes for the first basket and that was scored by Sharon freshman Emma Eberhardt, who was making her first career start, on a driving layup.
“I talked to her before the game and she was very calm. She’s like coach I feel good,” said Sharon coach Cliff Tomassian. “What I like about Emma is when we emphasized taking it to the basket, she’s one of the ones that will do it.”
North countered with senior Kiersten Bixby, who came off the bench and scored a pair of buckets in the paint. Caroline Collard (team-high 13 points) added a pair of layups, Ashley Ahern buried a three-pointer and the Rocketeers closed the quarter on a 7-0 run.
Turnovers continued to plague the Eagles throughout the half and in the second quarter North pulled away.
The Rocketeers knocked down four threes, including a pair by Emily Schromm who scored eight of her 10 points in the second. Sophomore Emily Haskell hit one from beyond the arc and even senior forward Emily Peters got in the act with a shot from straightaway that made it 34-11.
“The second quarter kind of got away from us,” said Sharon coach Cliff Tomassian. “We tried a bunch of different defenses – 2-3, 3-2 – and nothing really worked so that’s what we talked about in halftime was getting back and rotating and talking to each other on defense.”
The defense improved in the second half, as the Eagles held North to just 10 points in the third. The Rocketeers also pulled out of the press and Sharon was able to get the ball into senior Alyssa Piazza in the post. Piazza (10 rebounds) scored seven of her game-high 18 points in the third quarter, five of those from the free throw line.
Charlotte Ransom knocked down the first of her two second half threes and Sharon had cut the lead to 16. Ransom (13 points) would add seven points in the fourth quarter, including a three inside the final two minutes that cut the lead down to 53-38.
“We talked about being patient and not looking to try and score on the fast break but to set up and get into our offense,” said Tomassian about the improved offensive play in the second half.
Herber admitted that North is probably at its best when it is pressing and forcing the game to be played at its tempo, but he was also worried about wearing his team out so early in the season.
He explained, “A couple of the kids were out sick so we can’t put it on the whole time. In the second half we stayed away from it because we had some illness and we’re trying to keep people fresh.”
Although Sharon cut into the North lead and the Eagles defense was much better in the second half, particularly in rotating from side to side, the Rocketeers’ ball movement opened up passing lanes and created good scoring opportunities.
One sequence of quick passes around the perimeter led to an angled skip to Samantha Taggart (five assists) at the three-point line and she fired a quick pass into the post for a Collard layup. On another sequence, Ahern (13 points, six assists) drove through the lane and was able to squeeze a drop pass between two defenders for another layup.
“Everything is going to start with them and we’re trying to get them to be more assertive, but they want to share the ball sometimes to a fault,” said Herber of his two junior guards, Ahern and Taggart. “They’ve been playing great for us all year.”
He continued, “These kids share the ball very well and I’m very proud of the way they play that aspect. There’s not one kid who is trying to take a lot of shots.”
Piazza scored a pair of buckets in the final minute, both times cutting the North lead to 12. In the end, the Eagles had only four players get on the scoresheet (none off the bench) compared to the Rocketeers’ eight and it was too much to overcome.
North Attleboro (3-0) will now prepare for rival Bishop Feehan on Dec. 30. Sharon (0-3) will host Sandwich two days earlier.
Josh Perry can be contacted at JoshPerry@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.
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