RallyNorth.net

Fri, Feb 29, 2008 07:00 PM @ Lexington

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Playoff Game Division 1 North - Quarter Finals
Peabody	8	13	17	5	43
Lexington	11	17	7	11	46

Lexington 46, Peabody 43

LEXINGTON | Peabody came oh-so-close to punching its ticket to the Division 1 North semifinals last night.

But ultimately, the visiting Tanners couldn't hold off a late rally by host Lexington and said their season end with a 46-43 quarterfinal loss.

"Lexington is a terrific trapping team, and we did an excellent job preparing for it | until the last two minutes," said Peabody head coach Jane Heil, whose team ended its season with a 16-6 record.

"I think at the end their more aggressive traps got to us, and our passes were sloppy. But I was pleased with the way we came back in the third quarter. (Tawny) Palmieri and (Michelle) Grifoni did their usual thing, and Amy Perkins gave us some great minutes off the bench."

In addition to her 18 points and four 3-pointers, Grifoni also finished with six rebounds. Kristen Federico had nine points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Tanners, while Palmieri had six boards and six assists.

"We gave it our all, and that's all you can really ask for," said Federico, a senior captain. "It's really disappointing to lose, but we played as a team and played hard."

The Tanners took a 38-35 lead into the fourth quarter when both teams suddenly went ice cold. For the first four minutes and 42 seconds of the final period, the Minutemen only put one point on the board while the visitors were not much better, notching three points on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Grifoni.

Grifoni gave her team a five-point cushion with just over four minutes remaining, and Amy Perkins hit a jump shot to make it 43-36 a minute later. But the Tanners didn't score again while Lexington went on a 10-0 run to grab the lead.

Nena Ugwuomo, a senior guard who had a game high 21 points, started the comeback with a basket after a Peabody turnover (one of a dozen in the final quarter), and later made one from the line. But the real damage was done by guard Micaela Cyr (11 points) who drained a trey to pull her team within one, 43-42 with 1:29 remaining.

After the Tanners turned the ball over again on a traveling violation, Alyssa Zahka (9 points) gave Lexington its first lead of the quarter when she grabbed a rebound and put it back up. Ugwuomo sealed the deal with two foul shots with 23 seconds remaining, and Tawny Palmieri's desperation 3-pointer wouldn't fall.

During first half action, the play that brought the crowd to its feet was a nifty behind-the-back pass by Palmieri to Grifoni, who made the easy layup during that run.

"We tried it a few times in practice and did it a couple of times this year," said Grifoni. "Tawny is wicked good at it.

"I was hitting the 3's before the game and felt good shooting them tonight. We thought we had this one, but our passes were wild at the end."

Peabody only went to the line 11 times all game and made only four shots. Heil admitted the tough night at the charity stripe was a key.

"We struggled with our foul shooting and just weren't at the line enough," she said.

"Other than the last minute-and-a-half I was extremely pleased with the way we handled the press. Lexington has those two great players, Ugwuomo and Cyr, and they've got height, too.

"I'm very proud of the girls | it just got away from us at the end."