Blue Devils beat Wildcats in blowout
LEOMINSTER » The Leominster girls’ basketball team continued its strong start to the winter 2020-2021 campaign on Monday evening.
The Blue Devils made it three straight victories to start the season as they dominated visiting Gardner by a 52-17 final score.
“I thought tonight we did a nice job defensively pressuring the basketball and keeping it in front of us and keeping our hands away from the body. Our first two games I felt we committed too many fouls and gave up too many free throws,” Blue Devils head coach Rusty Frederick said.
“Offensively, we were a little sluggish at the start but we made a couple adjustments and were able to get out and run the fast break. We ran the floor well, tonight.”
Leading the charge for the Blue Devils was sophomore Kiley Cuddahy with a game-high 12 points. Sabina Marwa, Kyra Forsberg and Isabella Nevard also did their part on the offensive end, as each finished the game with eight points.
Senior Maddie Schaeffer led the Wildcats with six points. Junior Maddy Lashua and senior Maegan Columbus each chipped in with three points in defeat.
“Overall, I think we need to move the basketball a bit more. We struggled taking care of the basketball tonight,” first-year Gardner head coach Michelle Griczika said. “We got a lot of good looks at the basket and they weren’t falling. It was good to see our girls look for their shot, we just have to knock some of them down.”
Both teams struggled to generate a rhythm on the offensive end of the floor. The two squads combined for just 10 points in the opening stanza as Leominster opened a slim 6-4 lead after the first quarter. Nevard recorded all six Leominster points in the first quarter.
The Wildcats’ inability to hang onto the ball in the first quarter carried over into the second frame. Gardner committed 18 first-half turnovers as the hosts began to score with some consistency in the second quarter. Leominster outscored their guests 19-4 in the second quarter with Juliana Pompei and Forsberg doing most of the damage as the hosts took 25-8 lead to halftime.
Leominster didn’t let up in the third, opening with an 11- 0 run over the first five minutes to push the advantage to 36-8. Marwa came off the bench to score the final five points of that run to give the Blue Devils a little more breathing room.
“We have a fast, young team and we like to get out and run,” said Frederick. “I thought we had several players contribute. It’s a fun group to coach and to work with. They respond well to whatever we are trying to teach them.”
Gardner’s fortunes didn’t change over the final quarter and a half as the Wildcats mustered just four field goals and nine points over the final 11 minutes.
The teams will meet again on Thursday evening at Gardner High as the Wildcats (0-2) will hit the floor looking for its first win of the season.