You could see it in the way they walked in the gym. Somerville Girls Basketball thought they had this game in the bag. Why wouldn’t they? The Pioneers boasted an 18-2 record compared to Westfield’s 7-13. The Blue Devils, however, had other plans taking down Somervill with a final score of 68-36.
After an onslaught of defense into fast paced offense led by their young core, Westfield ended the first quarter with a 16-6 lead. Sophomore Megan Logan led the team early with her all-around game including key rebounds, defensive stops, and timely buckets.
The game was close for all of four minutes. After trading buckets, the scoreboard read 6-6. Consecutive turnovers from Somerville resulted in a Westfield lead of four. Sophomore Sophie Lane accredited the wave of momentum to “continuing to push the ball forward and looking to make the extra pass during transition while looking to get everyone involved.” The Pioneers spent their first timeout of the game in hopes of slowing down the Blue Devils’ momentum.
Westfield came out of the timeout even more cohesive than before, going on a 6-0 run to close out the first quarter.
From that point forward, it was smooth sailing for the Blue Devils. The second quarter played out similar to the domination at the end of the first. The Blue Devils controlled the flow of the game, adding 16 more points to the tally while limiting Somerville to just four in the second quarter. The score read 32-10 in favor of the Blue Devils entering halftime.
Entering the second half, the Blue Devils did not take their foot off the gas, posting scores of 17 and 19 in the third and fourth quarters. Defense was the name of the game. The Blue devils maintained their defensive pressure to the very last minute. The Blue Devils racked up 15 steals in the game, Logan leading the team with four. This kind of defense gave Westfield numerous additional possessions turned into buckets. Head coach Liz Mckeon said, “Defense is where it starts, turning defense into offense and playing together as a team.”
Turning defense into offense was Westfield’s primary weapon, along with contributions from Freshman Lucy Burke whose heroics included a three pointer in the 4th quarter and strong hustle plays throughout the game. Logan felt that “the bench helped support and everyone kept the pace going and rushed the other team. Overall I think we did good forcing turnovers.”
The Blue Devils capitalized on their gameplan from the jump. “We knew Somerville was a very good team, 18-2 coming into today’s game, they have two very strong guards in numbers 1 and 2. We knew we had to contain them in addition to their post player number 44. We wanted to make sure we were fronting her and getting any lobs from behind, again it’s about team defense,” said Mckeon.
Mckeon had high praise for her team’s defense; “We just continue to build on teamwork, sharing the ball and making the extra pass.” The Blue Devils look to carry this momentum into the first round of the Union County Tournament when they face off against ALJ this Wednesday at 4 pm.
