Andover Girls Basketball proved its ability to execute on the road with a decisive 43-30 win over Deerfield on Saturday and improved its away record to 4-1.
On Wednesday, Andover went up against athletic powerhouse Noble & Greenough and played a strong game, but the final score was 56-30 with Nobles as the victor.
That win and the loss on Wednesday put the team’s record at 6-3.
“[Against Deerfield] we played a great first half, and when we executed, we did really well. And we had some stretches where we were playing them really tight defensively,” said Coach Lewis Robinson.
The top scorer in the game against Nobles was point guard Giovanna Pickering ’13, who netted seven of the team’s 30 points.
Robinson said that Andover’s guard play was good, and Pickering’s dexterous ball handling skills as well as her ability to step in and lead the team when Captain Amanda Simard ’13 was off the court were important in keeping Andover in the game.
“We fought hard in the beginning. We came out really strong,” said Victoria Everett ’14. Everett was a key player down at the post with multiple rebounds and four points, two of them free throws.
At the start of the Nobles game, Andover was ahead 6-0, keeping the game pace slow and playing to its strengths. But Nobles picked up the pace and knocked down multiple consecutive three-pointers to draw away with a 19-6 lead.
Pickering hit the line at the nine-minute mark during the first half, making one of two free throws. Shortly afterwards, Nobles gave up possession a few times, and Cara Cavanaugh ’15 and Kasey Hartung ’14 took the opportunity to score four more points.
Hartung stepped up to the line after Andover forced a few good turnovers and she sunk both of her shots, shortening down the lead to 13-19.
But by halftime, Nobles had pulled away with a 28-19 lead, and Andover could not muster up the energy to make up that large of a deficit.
“I think we could work a bit on our defense and just keeping with it. But I think we showed a lot of potential today,” said Cavanaugh, who scored five points and snatched multiple rebounds in the game.
“Cara Cavanaugh had a spectacular game,” said Robinson.
Other key players from the game were Hartung and Maggie Brown ’13 with six points each and Everett with five.
Andover will play Worcester, a team it lost to in a scrimmage at the beginning of the season, on Saturday.
