Despite Plainfield’s timeout during the third quarter of the game to celebrate a player’s 1,000 career points, Westfield kept the lead and didn’t let it affect their play. Throughout the entire game, the Blue Devils didn’t let their lead slip and continued to play hard, leading to their 55-43 win.
The game was fast-paced, assisted by the loud crowds on both sides with Plainfield’s bench staying positive even in their downfall. Their energy was similar to that of seasons past and was something Westfield knew going into the game. Head coach Liz McKeon said, “We have a game plan for every game and every situation. We just try to prepare for anything and everything.”
From the beginning of the game, Westfield had high energy and aggressive gameplay. The Blue Devils had good technical passing when they were near the basket, and they scored most of their points on layups. Compared to Plainfield, they were much more confident with their offense, and that confidence was reflected in the score.
The ball was easily turned over on both sides, each team gaining points with multiple layups and jump shots. The fouls from each team stayed low in the first half, but that quickly changed when Plainfield realized they needed to get ahead to have a chance to walk away with the win.
In the fourth quarter, with around two minutes remaining, Plainfield’s game plan was to foul whenever they had a chance to increase their chances of a change in possession. At one instance, a Plainfield player two-hand pushed senior tri-captain Sophie Lane before the play even started.
Senior tri-captain Megan Logan said, “For our future games, we need to work on not letting them rush us, and stop turning the ball over. We need to work on our press break, so whenever they are pressuring us and in our face, we stay composed.”
Even with the highly praised gameplay, there are still components of the game to be improved. Junior Mairin Fowler said they can work on “staying composed and being able to focus on each other rather than the outside noise.”
The Blue Devils will be back on the court this Saturday at Roselle Catholic at 11:00 a.m.
