RallyNorth.net

Wed, Feb 06, 2008 07:00 PM @ Lowell

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Andover	9	11	10	5	35
Lowell	8	6	8	11	33

Andover prevails in low-scoring struggle

Thursday, February, 07 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

After splitting a pair of battles this season, Andover and Lowell, the two brightest lights in the Merrimack Valley Conference galaxy, hit the Dunn Gym last night and threw massive amounts of defense at each other.

Unchallenged shots came at as much of a premium as did baskets as the teams combined to make 23 of 98 attempts. The Golden Warriors owned the part of the game that counted the most | the last two minutes of each quarter. This created just enough momentum, and just enough separation, to hold off the Red Raiders for a hard-fought 35-33 victory.

With Lowell possessing a substantial height advantage, Andover answered by cutting off the figurative head of the offense | standout point guard Ashley Rivera. Senior Laura Renfro neutralized the 1,000-point career scorer once again (3-of-17 shooting after holding her to a 1-for-10 effort in January). She gummed up the Red Raider attack so completely that it looked like it was moving in quicksand.

"I can't say enough about her defense," Andover head coach Jim Tildsley said. "Rivera is the best player in the league and (Laura) just did a nice job on her."

"Laura actually did an awesome job slowing down their offense," Eagle-Tribune All-Star guard Meghan Thomann concurred. "She covered Ashley and basically shut her down. Give her a lot of credit for our defense."

Conversely, Lowell was effective in subduing Thomann (12 points on 3-of-13 shooting).

Andover took the lead early in the second quarter on the game's sixth lead change and never lost it. A Renfro 3-pointer and Kelly Driscoll layup in the last two minutes gave the Warriors a six-point halftime edge at 20-14. Two late Thomann free throws, a trifecta from Ilana Cohen and a jumper in the lane by Laura Hughes pushed Andover to its biggest lead of the night, 30-22, after three quarters.

Finally getting 6-2 forwards Brianna and Whitney Wilson involved, Lowell climbed to within a point with 4:14 left to play behind a pair of buckets from Rivera and free throws by Meaghan Cavanaugh and Whitney Wilson.

But the Andover defense responded.

"We thought they'd go inside or isolate Rivera, which they did. We adjusted pretty well and played great weak-side defense. They're seniors and they stepped up," said Tildsley.

And Thomann flourished.

The Bentley-bound senior got a wide-open look and drilled a crushing 3-pointer with 2:24 remaining for a 33-29 lead, then knocked the ball loose in her own lane for a turnover a minute later. After two free throws from Rivera cut the lead in half, Thomann swiped a Raider pass in their backcourt and got fouled with seven seconds left. Her two free throws locked up the victory.

"Obviously, we're going to go for the steal if we see it, but we were making sure not to let them get a good shot," Thomann said. "Beating Lowell is a huge thing, but we have some big games coming up. One of them is on Friday, so we can't celebrate too much."