Foxboro tops Dracut, nets third title
LOWELL >> Saturday night’s Division 2 state championship basketball game featured two of the top players in the state in Dracut’s Ashlee Talbot and Foxboro’s Camryn Collins.
Neither player disappointed on the big stage, but it was the strong core of other Warriors’ players who were the difference in No. 5 seed Foxboro coming away with a 73-53 victory over the No. 6 seed Middies.
While Talbot had a game-high 28 points and Collins finished with 15, it was Collins’ teammates Kailey Sullivan and Addie Ruter who were deadly with their outside and inside games all night, giving the Warriors their third state championship in program history, following 1995 (Division 3) and 2018 (Division 2) crowns.
“We just have so many kids who can score, whether it be threes with Kailey Sullivan or inside with Addie Ruter, and tonight Ava Hill stepped up as our sixth player and she was able to contribute as well in a big way,” said Foxboro head coach Lisa Downs. “It was very difficult for (Dracut) to focus in one or two of our players when we have five people on the court who are all capable of scoring at any time.”
Foxboro entered 23-1 record and riding a 15-game winning streak. The Warriors’ offense was terrific in every area, attacking the basket, from the paint and from the outside. Sullivan was immense in the first half in scoring 13 of her 18 points.
“They have been playing well throughout the stretch of this tournament,” said Dracut head coach Peter Witts. “We were cold today and we weren’t our usual selves with our shooting. We started to heat up a bit in the fourth quarter, but it was a little too late especially against a very good team like Foxboro. (Sullivan) was lights out in the first half and she really killed us tonight. I thought we did a really good job against Collins, keeping her away from the rim but she ended up getting her points.”
The first quarter started out like a track meet — both teams were racing up and down the court depositing shots. Foxboro led 21-17 after the first and 36-26 at the break. The Warriors then opened the third quarter on a 13-3 run which moved the lead to double digits. Dracut (21-7) slowly started to come back, led by Talbot. She struggled early in the third on her outside shots before she scored eight of her 28 points in a two-minute stretch, cutting a 20-point deficit to 13 with 3:55 to go, but the Warriors closed out the game on a 10-3 run.
“(This title) is incredible. I’m just so fortunate to be here for twelve years and I’ve had a lot of great basketball players,” said Downs. “More so, I’ve had a lot of team-oriented players. They want to see the team do well, especially the team that I have this year. They are a pass first, score second (type of team) and that’s what has made us so successful and so well-rounded.”
For Dracut, this was the furthest any program — girls or boys — has gone in program history. Talbot, who closed out her career near 1,500 points, and three other senior starters closed out their careers.
“For us this was a fantastic season. Our goal was to play in 28 games and that’s what we did,” said Witts. “We just came up short on the last one. No other team boys or girls has reached the state championship game and we did and I think that sets the tone for our younger kids. Ashlee (Talbot) sent the bar up high and so did Brodie Gannon, Emma Felker and Amaya Alkasaad. They are looked up to by (our younger) travel teams. My team, I’m just so proud of their effort. We could have quit but that was never going to happen. It was tough, but we had a great journey to get here. Absolutely a great journey.”