Andover Girls Basketball redeemed itself after Friday’s loss to Suffield Academy in a 53-39 victory over Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School last Wednesday.
“We went out onto the court ready to fight for this win and not give it up. We played with intensity and it paid off. We won this game because of our defense. Good defense wins games, not just scoring points,” said Alexis Walker ’12.
Friday’s loss was a heartbreaking one. Andover lost by a small margin, 55-52.
Andover started off slowly at the beginning of Friday’s game, finding itself behind 33-26 at halftime. In the second half, Captain Leah Humes ’12 and Alex Kiss-Rusk ’12 led the team as it answered to close its disadvantage.
The team improved its game in the second half by avoiding unnecessary fouls that handed Suffield easy points. The team’s defense played a close coverage, forcing long and erroneous shots from Suffield. Andover relentlessly crashed Suffield’s offense, and Suffield slowly fell apart.
Meanwhile, Andover’s offense was firing on all cylinders. Humes found the high-post players at every opportunity, and Andover consistently used its height to its advantage. Suffield, a relatively short team, was forced to foul in order to prevent Andover from making shots from inside the key. This allowed Andover to go to the line consistently and at one point go on a 16-3 run.
Andover also made use of the fast break it had been working on in practice. On one particular play, the practice was especially visible: Humes stole the ball, passing it quickly down court to Maggie Brown ’13, who in turn put the ball in the hands of Kiss-Rusk. Kiss-Rusk then threw the ball down over a Suffield defender gawking in awe of the speed of the play.
“It takes a tremendous amount of confidence and defensive discipline to come back from 16 down, so Coach [Lani] Silversides and I were proud of that aspect of the team’s effort,” said Lewis Robinson, Assistant Coach of Andover Girls Basketball.
However, Andover’s comeback did not hold up through the end of the game and the team ultimately fell. With 15.7 seconds remaining and the score at 52-54 in Suffield’s favor, Coach Lani Silversides called two timeouts in a row to create a detailed final play. Andover was unable to execute the play, and once the ball was inbounds, Suffield defenders quickly circled the ball handler, forcing her to make a unwanted pass that bounced out of bounds. Suffield went on to make a free throw with 3.4 seconds which put it too far out of Andover’s reach.
“The girls worked extremely hard on Friday. It was an exhausting game for them mentally because we got off to a slow start…the ball took some tough bounces and we couldn’t keep Suffield’s top scorer off the offensive glass,” said Robinson.
“We played a lot better the second half and started working as a team and even gained a lead. We just got a little unlucky at the end. But I have no doubt that our next game will be better. We are a talented team and have great players,” said Walker.
Andover will next play a strong Northfield Mount Herman team today.