Just over one minute into the second quarter, the Blue Devils had the opportunity to tie up the score and possibly take the lead for the first time. The sound of the whistle rang throughout the stands as freshman Lucy Burke was fouled going in for a layup. For the entirety of the first quarter, the Blue Devils had trailed behind Governor Livingston. As Burke stepped up to the line, the gym fell silent. In a moment of pure silence in an adrenaline-filled gym, Burke hit her first foul shot to tie the game, 7-7. Sighs of relief ran throughout the Westfield stands and echoed from their bench. With confidence from her first shot, Burke finessed the second free throw, giving the Blue Devils their first lead of the game, 8-7. The Blue Devils would not lose this lead again, completing the following three quarters with utter dominance and a final score, 43-20.
During the first quarter, the girls had struggled to work cohesively. Most of the plays were individual steals, but offensively, the shots were not falling. Additionally, the girls faced many turnovers that had translated into major scoring opportunities for Governor Livingston. Sophomore Megan Logan said, “In the beginning, it was really rough because we turned the ball over and it was hard to get over pushing the ball off the court. Every possession, it was hard to get back. It was tiring.”
Between the first and second quarter, the game changed dramatically for the Blue Devils. On both sides of the court, the girls dominated, holding Governor Livingston to eight points total at the end of the half and going on a 12-point run in the second quarter. Points came from Burke and senior captain Sara Rooney. The game plan did not change but a shift in intensity propelled the girls to finish the half and gain a margin too big for Governor Livingston to climb back.
The girls were operating a high pressure defense for all four quarters. “Our game plan was to press,” said head coach Liz McKeon. “We knew that we wanted to pressure their guards and make it uncomfortable for them. In practice we made a few adjustments to our press, and I think the girls did a tremendous job. Everyone that came in, they knew their role. They knew what to do, and they did a great job on the press, which led to a lot of steals and baskets.” Running this press can burn a team out early, but McKeon knew if the girls could see defensive results they could continue the pressure for the second half. “Well, I mean, it helps when you get the steals, right, that gets their adrenaline flowing and it also helps when you’ve got you know, 15 kids on your team to go pick up girls and foul trouble girls came in, girls stepped up.”
With a predominantly young team, most of the girls are slightly inexperienced when playing at the varsity level. However, Burke was one of the driving factors in the girls success in this match up. Burke credited her success to the upperclassmen on the team as she said, “I feel like the older people kind of pick me up and kind of help me out and tell me where to go and what to do and they really helped me get to the right place and be in the right place and be successful.”
Young players continued to contribute through the second half. Logan worked hard in the paint to produce points while sophomores Darby Hubner and Sophie Lane were able to contribute from the outside. Logan knew the game would be tough coming in, so she thought Westfield needed to be physical and together to break apart the Governor Livingston attack.“I think the game was pretty even because they had some solid players. I think we have more skills and I think we have more team chemistry and we’re just bonded really well. And I think we just played better than that.”
The rest of the game was completely dominated by Westfield. The fourth quarter, Westfield added to their twenty point lead and only allowed three points from their opponent. This momentum was exactly what the girls needed rolling into their last regular season game before the start of the Union County Tournament. Rooney knows the second half of the game showcased exactly what Westfield can do going into the tournament. She said, “I feel like we played really well, especially in the second half. Our defense just really picked up and that really translates for offense and just everything was flowing really well in the second half.”
Westfield will face Somerville on Monday at 7 p.m. in their last regular season matchup.
