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Amherst Girls Basketball '10-'11

VIDEO: Andover girls basketball wins Division 1 state title

See plenty of video highlights and interviews with all five starters from Andover girls basketball's 61-51 victory over Amherst in the Division 1 state title game.

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Girls Basketball, 03/20/11 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars

Andover repeats! Unsung Alois, Caveney take over in 2nd half


WORCESTER — Nicole Boudreau held up two fingers after she and her teammates stormed the court.
The fingers signified the Golden Warriors’ second straight Division 1 state title.
While delighted, Boudreau isn’t satisfied.
“We just won two straight championships in a row. That’s all I wanted. Now we want 3,” said the junior sharpshooter.
With the game deadlocked at 47-47 early in the fourth, Andover went on a 14-4 run to pull out a 61-51 win over surprising Amherst-Pelham here at the DCU Center yesterday.   
Boudreau scored a game-high 18 points and collected a team-high 10 rebounds, solidifying her spot as arguably the greatest girls basketball player ever to wear the Blue and Gold.
But she got plenty of help, too. Devon Caveney and unsung Jackie Alois were brilliant in the second half.
“She is one of the top players to come out of Andover,” coach Jim Tildsley said of Boudreau. “Put it that way. And who knows? She’s got another year to go. Hopefully, she stays healthy and we keep going from there. She could be the top player without a doubt.”  
Boudreau laughed when asked who was the greatest Golden Warrior.
“I haven’t really thought about that,” she said. “We were just thinking about winning this championship. That was what was most important to us. Individual stuff isn’t really important to me. But we’re going to enjoy this right now and come back next year and hopefully give another run at it.”
Boudreau (7-of-19 shooting, 3 of 9 on 3s) was face-guarded throughout by Kristen Ferola, who made things tough on her.  
Her teammates had to step up ... and they did.
Particularly Caveney, who finished with 14 points.
Earlier in the week, Caveney said she worked tirelessly growing up so she could someday shoot like Boudreau.  
“Now I want to shoot like her!” said Boudreau. “I didn’t shoot too well today and she made some key shots toward the end of the game that I don’t know if I could have made. ... They were leaving her open and you can’t leave Devon open.”
With the game tied in the fourth, Caveney hit a huge 3-pointer with 5:12 left to give Andover a 50-47 lead. She then drove to the basket and scored a lay-up to give Andover a 52-49 lead with 4:00 left.
“We only had like five seconds left on the shot clock and I couldn’t shoot it because there was a girl on me so I drove to the basket and I made the lay-up,” said the sophomore.
Boudreau said, “They were leaving Devon open and she can make shots, she can drive. That was a huge part of the game (both those baskets).”
Caveney scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half.
“In the first half, I didn’t do anything,” said Caveney. “I got two fouls and I sat on the bench, which felt awful. So in the second half, I just wanted to come out and make shots, just be a part of the team and make a difference.”
With Andover leading by three after Caveney’s drive to the basket, Boudreau scored on a runner to make it 54-49 with 2:50 left.
Amherst would never recover.
Andover shot 25.0 percent from the field in the first half and 44.4 percent from the field in the second half.
“We struggled throughout the whole game to make shots,” Alois said. “But in the end we got our lay-ups to go and we got the shots.”
Alois, a defensive specialist who was averaging 2.8 points a game, scored 12, including 10 crucial ones in the second half.
Natalie Gomez-Martinez added 10 points and Ally Fazio had seven points.  

Andover 61, Amherst-Pelham 51
Division 1 state final
Amherst-Pelham (51): Brianna Leonard 6 3-5 16, Nancy Mangels 2 0-0 4, Victoria Stewart 2 1-2 5, Kristen Ferola 5 0-0 11, Forbasaw Nkamebo 7 1-1 17. Totals: 22 5-8 51    
Andover (61): Ally Fazio 2 2-2 7, Natalie Gomez-Martinez 2 5-7 10, Devon Caveney 5 1-2, 14, Nicole Boudreau 7 1-2 18, Jackie Alois 5 2-4 12, Mollie Maturah 0 0-0 0, Danielle Boudreau 0 0-0 0, Jaymi Cohen 0 0-0 0, Olivia Biles 0 0-0 0, Abbie Watts 0 0-0 0, Elon Beasley 0 0-0 0, Bridget Thibodeau 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 11-17 61  
3-pointers: Amherst — Leonard, Ferola; Andover — Nicole Boudreau 3, Caveney 3, Fazio, Gomez-Martinez
Amherst-Pelham (22-3): 13    10    22    6 — 51
Andover (26-1): 13    12    20    16 — 61

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Girls Basketball, 03/19/11 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars