Foxborough dominates in a title game tour de force
LOWELL — Last year, the Foxborough girls’ basketball team caught everyone by relative surprise when the Warriors stormed to the Division 2 title as a No. 5 seed.
This year, in Division 3, they had the biggest target — and it didn’t matter.
The top-seeded Warriors were in control for most of Saturday’s championship game against second-seeded Norwell at Tsongas Center en route to a 66-43 victory. The triumph capped a dominant state tournament run in which they won every game by more than 20 points.
“It’s hard to be the No. 1 seed all season,” said Foxborough coach Lisa Downs. “Everyone has their calendar marked for the day that they’re going to meet you, and every single day, you’re getting everybody’s best game . . . It didn’t really matter which opponent we were playing. They were really just focused on fine-tuning the little things that they had control of.”
Foxborough (24-2) opened with a picturesque 17-2 first quarter, holding Norwell without a made field goal. Center Addie Ruter dominated the paint and flashed impressive touch on a few turnaround jumpers. The Warriors kept their foot on the gas through most of the second quarter, pushing the lead to 31-11 and forcing a Norwell timeout.
The Clippers showed fight out of the timeout with an 11-0 run. Reagan Dowd, after a cold shooting start, drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to cut the deficit to 31-22 at the half. But Foxborough extinguished the threat with the dynamic backcourt of Camryn Collins and Kailey Sullivan taking turns connecting in transition to reignite the pace as part of a 9-0 response.
“The third quarter is always our go-to quarter,” Downs said. “I always say that that’s the most important quarter of the game because you have to come out with a lot of energy.”
In the fourth quarter, it was all Collins, wowing the crowd with her herky-jerky dribble moves and smooth jump shot. The final dagger came when Sullivan dribbled to her left and fed Collins with a perfect bounce pass on a backdoor cut.
“I think at some point, I know my strengths and my defense’s weaknesses,” Collins said, “so I just have to attack it, and I guess I always end up doing it in the second half.”
Collins, a Rider-bound senior, capped her high school career with a game-high 25 points. Ruter racked up 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks, and Sullivan tossed in 15 points. The superstar trio combined for 57 of Foxborough’s 66 points.
“It’s a balance of staying humble and being confident,” Collins said. “We’ve had to work hard the past two years and keep building, so it was a hard road, but I’m really glad that we came out on top.”
Maddie Oliver led the Clippers (23-2) with 17 points in the loss, surpassing 1,000 career points in the process. Dowd added 10 points and seven steals in Norwell’s first state final since 1989.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Norwell coach Matt Marani. “[You have] visions of coming in and finishing it off, but it means a lot because of the effort that was put in. So I’m very proud of them, and we hope to use this as a motivating factor.”