RallyNorth.net

Sun, Jan 08, 2012 01:00 PM @ Whittier

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Pentucket	6	13	18	16	53
Whittier	10	8	13	15	46

Sachems deal Whittier their first loss

Sunday, January, 08 By Alex Lippa

  

When Pentucket junior Tess Nogueira went down with an injury in their game at Whittier, the Sachems knew that they would have to call upon their bench to take a bigger role than they are used to. The reserves didn’t miss a beat however as Pentucket defeated Whittier, 53-46 on Sunday afternoon.

 

“Kids who haven’t been playing a lot of minutes for us really stepped up,” said Pentucket head coach John McNamara. “Sydney Snow and Molly McDonough stepped up and filled the void of Tess and were in there scrapping away.”

 

Nogueira, the team’s biggest player at 6-0, left the game in the third quarter after falling hard on her side. She remained on the ground for several minutes, but was able to walk off the court with assistance. She did not return to the game.

 

The absence of Nogueira meant that Pentucket had to change their defense to adjust for the loss of the big body down low.

 

“We stressed on everyone crashing the boards,” said Pentucket senior forward Leigh McNamara. “We know that we couldn’t just rely on one person to get all the rebounds like we tend to do sometimes.”

 

Coley Viselli led the Sachems with 15 points, while Alex Moore and Sarah Higgins each chipped in nine points. Christina Medley led the Wildcats with 15 points.

 

For Whittier, it is their first loss of the season after a 7-0 start. But despite the loss, head coach Kevin Bradley was proud of the way Division 4 Whittier competed against a Division 3 opponent.

 

“We lost the game, but I think we won the battle,” said Bradley. “They were coming in and I think they were big favorites, but we went toe to toe with them.

 

Whittier had a four point lead after the first quarter, but a couple of poor stretches of play would eventually lead to their demise. Whittier went almost the entire second quarter without a field goal until back to back threes by Christina Medley and Kendra Brasil in the final minute halted a 12-2 Pentucket run. The Wildcats would go into the half trailing by one.

 

Whittier then came out of the half slow, as Pentucket scored the first nine points of the half. Whittier had trouble getting off shots and were hampered by the tenacity of the Sachems defense.

 

“We had trouble dealing with their speed,” said Bradley. “We haven’t played a team like that yet this season, and it will only help us in the future.”

 

While Bradley was pleased in a losing effort, McNamara focused on the work his team still has to in the future.

“We’re nowhere near where we want to be,” said McNamara. “We’re struggling to be truthful. We have three games this week and we will probably be without (Nogueira). We have a lot of work to do.”

 

Additional stories:

• Sachems deal Whittier their first loss