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After emerging from a deep early hole to earn its first Bay State Conference win of the season in Framingham on Friday, the Dedham High girls basketball team dug itself a canyon against rival Norwood Tuesday night.
This time the climb proved too steep, but just barely.
Dedham nearly overcame a 20-point halftime deficit, scoring the final 12 points of the game, but came up shy when a 3-pointer for the lead in the final seconds was short and the Marauders were called for a controversial traveling call, quashing their furious comeback attempt in 49-47 loss.
Junior Ellen Masalsky led the way for the Marauders, scoring 13 of her game-high 18 points in the second half. The Marauders fall to 5-4 overall and 1-4 in the Bay State Conference play.
“We played well in the second half, we did not play well in the first. We have to find a way to play 32 minutes here,” said Dedham coach Don Savi. “We’ve got to play better from the opening tap from now on. We just cant be that flat early in the game.”
Norwood, which was led by 14 points and 11 rebounds from freshman Amy Duggan, evens its mark at 3-3 overall and 2-3 in the league.
The Mustangs appeared to be in control with a 49-35 lead with 4:32 to play but went the scoreless the rest of the way as Dedham closed with the final 12 points and had the ball with a chance to tie or win the game in the final seconds.
“That’s the best first half we have played followed by the worst half we have played,” said first-year Norwood coach Alex DaLuz. “These girls aren’t used to winning, so they aren’t used to playing with the lead. We stressed at halftime that we have to come out and play hard. We were down by 25 at the half against Braintree and they came on and out put 10 more on us. A great team like Braintree puts their foot on the gas, but we came out and acted like the game was over. It was ugly, but is a good lesson to be learned and it’s even better that we came out with a victory.”
Eight of those points came from the line, where Dedham was 21-of-39 on the night. After two from the stripe by Jenna Savi pulled Dedham within three at 49-46 with 1:26 to play, the Marauders nearly tied it when Emily Hill stole the inbounds pass, one of five thefts for the junior, and fed Savi, who was fouled on a lay-in attempt that hung on the front of the rim for a moment before rolling off.
After emerging from a deep early hole to earn its first Bay State Conference win of the season in Framingham on Friday, the Dedham High girls basketball team dug itself a canyon against rival Norwood Tuesday night.
This time the climb proved too steep, but just barely.
Dedham nearly overcame a 20-point halftime deficit, scoring the final 12 points of the game, but came up shy when a 3-pointer for the lead in the final seconds was short and the Marauders were called for a controversial traveling call, quashing their furious comeback attempt in 49-47 loss.
Junior Ellen Masalsky led the way for the Marauders, scoring 13 of her game-high 18 points in the second half. The Marauders fall to 5-4 overall and 1-4 in the Bay State Conference play.
“We played well in the second half, we did not play well in the first. We have to find a way to play 32 minutes here,” said Dedham coach Don Savi. “We’ve got to play better from the opening tap from now on. We just cant be that flat early in the game.”
Norwood, which was led by 14 points and 11 rebounds from freshman Amy Duggan, evens its mark at 3-3 overall and 2-3 in the league.
The Mustangs appeared to be in control with a 49-35 lead with 4:32 to play but went the scoreless the rest of the way as Dedham closed with the final 12 points and had the ball with a chance to tie or win the game in the final seconds.
“That’s the best first half we have played followed by the worst half we have played,” said first-year Norwood coach Alex DaLuz. “These girls aren’t used to winning, so they aren’t used to playing with the lead. We stressed at halftime that we have to come out and play hard. We were down by 25 at the half against Braintree and they came on and out put 10 more on us. A great team like Braintree puts their foot on the gas, but we came out and acted like the game was over. It was ugly, but is a good lesson to be learned and it’s even better that we came out with a victory.”
Eight of those points came from the line, where Dedham was 21-of-39 on the night. After two from the stripe by Jenna Savi pulled Dedham within three at 49-46 with 1:26 to play, the Marauders nearly tied it when Emily Hill stole the inbounds pass, one of five thefts for the junior, and fed Savi, who was fouled on a lay-in attempt that hung on the front of the rim for a moment before rolling off.
Savi hit one of the two resulting free throws to cut it to 49-47, which is where it remained despite a hectic final minute-plus.
Norwood had multiple chances to boost the lead back up to two possession, while Dedham failed to convert a couple of trips with a chance to pull even for the first time since the opening tip. The Marauders last gasp came off an inbounds play with 7.8 ticks left where they worked it around the perimeter to set up a good look for Renee Gassler from 3-point range.
Gassler’s shot was on line but just short. Savi grabbed the rebound in the middle of the lane, pivoted and dished off a bounce pass to a wide open Libby Masalsky under the basket, but the whistle blew for a traveling violation on Savi before Masalsky could get the tying bid up.
“Everybody saw the game, everyone knows what was missed in the fourth quarter,” said coach Savi. “No one saw anything. Sometimes people don’t want their games to go to overtime.”
Norwood inbounded the ball and the clock ran out on the Marauders before they could foul to extend the game.
The Mustangs never trailed, scoring the first seven points and gradually building the lead to 34-14, their largest of the game, heading into the locker room. While Norwood had its most productive 16 minutes of the season, Dedham struggled mightily, going 4-of-25 from the floor.
Dedham, which was playing with just nine on the roster after senior captain Kelly Quinn decided to forgo the rest of the season, held Norwood without a field goal for the first 5:44 of the third quarter, but could only whittle the Mustangs lead to 40-27 headed into the fourth before making their late charge.
“We decided to play,” said coach Savi. “We just played faster and played harder, it’s not rocket science. We played with more intensity and everything else.”
The Marauders got out of the gate slowly against the Flyers but won going away in a 51-35 victory. Dedham trailed 11-2 early and were down by a point at halftime but outscored Framingham 30-13 in the second half.
Savi had 16 of her season-high 25 points after the break while Ellen Masalsky added 16.
Dedham wrapped up its non-league schedule with a perfect 4-0 mark by routing Boston English, 59-21, last Wednesday. Savi paced the Marauders with 16 and Ellen Masalsky, Hill and Quinn all had eight.
