East comes up short against Attleboro

By Ryan D. Murray
Posted 1/4/17

The Attleboro Blue Bombardiers overpowered the Cranston East 'Bolts, 68-51, Wednesday night in the Thunderbolt Classic Holiday Invitational championship game. According to East head coach Lloyd Bochner, the team was

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East comes up short against Attleboro

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The Attleboro Blue Bombardiers overpowered the Cranston East ’Bolts, 68-51, Wednesday night in the Thunderbolt Classic Holiday Invitational championship game.

According to East head coach Lloyd Bochner, the team was without two of its starters, McKenzie Richards and Shayna Cousineau.

“We had a lot of girls on our bench who don’t get a lot of minutes that played tonight,” Bochner said. “I think it was 49-46 with like five minutes left and then they wore us down. They have more depth than us. They’re just a great team and I think we threw punch for punch with them.”

East senior guard Sarah Coutu had a game-high 26 points. Teammates Maia Caito and Hope Halvarson contributed 10 and six points, respectively.

For Attleboro, senior center Sarah Deyo led her team with 20 points, while Julia Strachan had 19 and Samantha Pierce added 16.

“I think we played as hard as we could,” Bochner said. “I’m really proud of our girls. Sarah is our glue, but we had contributions from the bench. Izzy Ferry, Hope Halvarson and Maddie Stetson were outstanding.”

Attleboro won the opening tip and got on the board first when Deyo made one-of-two free throws. Seconds later, Coutu dished to Isabella Ferry for a trey and a 3-1 East lead. Moments later, Coutu hit a floater while she was fouled. The senior standout added the free throw to extend East’s lead to 6-1.

Sophomore forward Jordyn Lako scored for Attleboro to cut it to 6-3. Then, East went on another run. First, Tatyana Correia assisted inside to Caito, who banked it off the glass to give East an 8-3 advantage. Next, Coutu was hit while attempting a 3 and she sank all three free throws to put East up 11-3.

However, Pierce recorded two buckets and Deyo scored a hoop, decreasing the Attleboro deficit to 11-9. Next, a nice defensive stand by Attleboro saw Deyo block Halvarson before the shot clock expired. The turnover resulted in Attleboro’s Pierce tying the game at 11 on a breakaway layup.

A 3-point shot by Halvarson gave East a 14-11 advantage with 8:47 left in the opening half. Next, Mish Logie fed Pierce inside to cut it to one. East countered when Ferry went in to the interior to Caito for the easy layup to increase the lead to 16-13.

A jumper from Attleboro’s Pierce lessened it to 16-15. But, East went back up, 18-15, on a putback from Caito. Then, Coutu slashed to the basket for a bucket, increasing the East lead to 20-15 with 5:11 left in the half.

However, Attleboro went on a 13-5 run to end the half. First, Logie buried a shot from downtown, pulling Attleboro within 20-18. Moments later, Attleboro went up 21-20 when Deyo came up with a steal and went coast-to-coast for the score. A corner 3 from Strachan just before the buzzer gave Attleboro a 28-22 lead heading into the break.  

East closed the gap early in the second half. First, senior guard Madison Stetson assisted to Caito for a layup. Next, Coutu buried a shot from downtown, pulling East within two at 29-27.

Pierce made a layup to put Attleboro up 31-27. Shortly after, Strachan drained a 3-pointer to extend Attleboro’s lead to 34-27. After a missed 3 from Stetson, senior teammate Lizbeth Torres was there for the putback, cutting it to 34-29.

Soon after though, Attleboro used a 6-0 run to go up 40-29. First, Logie went inside to Deyo for a 3-point play. Seconds later, Strachan buried a 3 ball.

East countered. Coutu found Halverson, who drained a corner 3 to cut it to 40-32 with 12:45 left. However, a Pierce layup made it 42-32. Soon after, a jumper from Logie put Attleboro on top 44-32.

A 3 from the sharpshooting Coutu brought East within 46-40 with 7:58 to play. During Attleboro’s next possession, Logie fed Deyo for a 3-point play, putting Attleboro up 49-40. With 6:46 left, Coutu struck again, draining a shot from downtown while cutting the deficit to 49-43. Out of a timeout, Halvarson found Coutu again, who drilled her fourth trey of the game to make it 49-46 with 6:10 left.

However, over the next three minutes, Attleboro used a 17-0 run to blow the game wide open and take a 66-46 edge.

Stetson hit a pair of free throws for East to end the drought. Ultimately, East would fall 68-51.

Despite the loss, Bochner was pleased with what he saw out of his team.

“We were only down six at the half,” Bochner added. “That team (Attleboro) has been averaging 83 points a game…They have two 1,000-point scorers. They’re legit.”

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