H/B girls fall on home turf

Friday, March 12, 2010

HOLLIS – The Hollis/Brookline High School girls basketball team had a plan to keep out of foul trouble.

Coach Bob Murphy was going to have the No. 4 Cavaliers pull back their press, and switch defenses depending on whether or not the offense was scoring in Thursday night’s Class I quarterfinal game against No. 5 St. Thomas Aquinas.

But somehow the plan backfired.

By the end of the first half, four H/B players had at least two fouls, and the Cavs were forced to change their game plan. The changes had an effect on H/B’s game, and combined with the Saints’ solid perimeter defense, the Cavs saw their season come to an end with a 55-48 loss.

St. Thomas (14-6) moves on to face top-seeded and undefeated Lebanon, which beat No. 8 Oyster River 49-36, in the Class I semifinals on Monday at Southern New Hampshire University.

H/B (16-4) sees one of the best seasons in program history come to an end with the first trip to the Class I quarterfinals. Despite the success this year, there was still disappointment at seeing the season end early.

“It really didn’t go the way I was hoping it was going to go,” said Murphy, whose team won at St. Thomas 73-56 on Jan. 19. “We were getting a lot of good outside shots in that game and we weren’t tonight. The girls that usually shoot the basketball well, Katie (Stopera) and Kelly (Morgan), just weren’t getting the good looks from the outside.

“I had outside shooters who were either covered extremely well or just didn’t want to shoot the ball because they didn’t have good looks. I’ve got to believe that’s what it was. That’s all part of the game.”

Morgan led H/B with 13 points, but only two of those came after halftime.

Kelsey Berry came off the bench to add nine points, but post players Sultan Svirk, Julia Stopera and Alicia Papineau, who combined for 27 points in the playoff win over Merrimack Valley, had just 13 total points against the Saints.

All three were plagued with foul trouble in the first half. Julie Stopera got her second foul with 4:28 left in the first quarter, while Papineau was whistled for her second with 6:29 left before halftime.

Julia Stopera returned and picked up her third foul at the 2:41 mark.

“The foul trouble limits you on who you can play,” Murphy said.

“I kept trying to, every time I put somebody in that had three fouls, and ask them to try to stay out of foul trouble, bang they’d get the fourth one.

“I don’t want to dwell on the foul issue, but it’s part of the game. A lot of it is created by the other team and they did a great job of that.”

Even with the foul trouble, the Cavs still led by six at halftime, thanks in part to 12 turnovers by the Saints. Twice during the first half, St. Thomas went four straight possessions with a turnover.

Three fast break layups by McHale Perkins and a layup by Morgan helped H/B go up 29-20 in the final minute of the half.

But a 3-pointer by Caleigh MacDonald with 1.8 seconds left cut the lead to six going into the locker room.

When the Saints came out for the second half, they looked like a different team.

“We stopped throwing the ball into their hands,” St. Thomas coach Sabrina Payeur said. “I know it sounds silly but we talked about it at halftime. The two things that we were doing to give them the lead were lapses in foul shooting, in boxing out.

“The other thing was forcing the ball inside where it wasn’t open. Against other teams, it might have been open, but Hollis is a good team. You can’t just throw it in.”

The Saints opened the third quarter with a 13-0 run while the Cavs didn’t score their first points of the half until 1:29 was left in the quarter.

St. Thomas pushed the lead to 10 points with 4:04 left in the game before H/B rallied. A layup by Morgan sandwiched between 3-pointers by Jill Gillis and Berry pulled the Cavs to 49-46 with 1:40 to play.

But on Berry’s 3, Perkins was also called for her fifth foul after the basket and the subsequent free throws by Charleen Sheehan put St. Thomas back up five. A layup by Gillis cut the lead back to three, but H/B wouldn’t score again.

The Saints were 8-for-13 from the free throw line down the stretch – and 22-of-31 for the game – while the Cavs made just 8-of-19 free throws on the night.

“When the other team is in double bonus, that makes it difficult,” Murphy said. “Every time they come down the floor, they usually end up with two foul shots.

“That doesn’t help in a three-point game. Compared to the last game against this team, we were 24-for-28. That just doesn’t help.”