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| Foxboro coach Lisa Downs instructs Katelyn Mollica (11), Aislinn Servaes (2). |
Year after year, these two teams would clash in the MIAA Division 2-South tournament, either in a final or semifinal, and the games would be almost indescribable in their ferocity. Indeed, the two schools would meet in four straight pressure-packed tourney games at neutral sites each year from 1986 through 1989, with Foxboro winning just one.
Thursday night at Walpole High, those old memories were stirred again.
It may be a new generation of athletes wearing the uniforms of the Rebels and Warriors, but there was an old-fashioned intensity on display in Foxboro's 59-52 non-league triumph. Want evidence? The teams battled through 12 lead changes and five ties through three quarters before the Warriors, 15-2 on the season, finally pulled away from the Rebels.
"They really gave us a test," said Foxboro junior guard Katelyn Mollica, who scored 23 points (as confirmed after further review by Foxboro coach Lisa Downs) to lead Foxboro to a victory that should be solid proof of the Warriors' readiness for the upcoming MIAA playoffs.
The two teams were practically even in the early going, Foxboro emerging with an 11-10 edge at the end of the first eight minutes. But as foul trouble began to send Foxboro's starters to the bench as preventative measures, Walpole ran off 12 straight points midway through the second quarter to lead by 11, 24-13, on a three-pointer by senior by Elisabeth Roche with 2:59 left in the half.
Quickly, Foxboro grasped the severity of its plight. Lizzy Davis scored on a nice inbounds pass from Mollica with 2:51 left and Mollica buried a three with 2:15 left to quickly trim five points off the deficit. Then after Walpole's outstanding senior guard, Sydney Scales, netted two free throws with 1:54 left, Foxboro put on a strong finishing kick -- two free throws by Davis, a three by Mollica and a traditional three-point play by Davis with 22.3 seconds left to draw even at the half, 26-26.
The action was wild in the third quarter as the claustrophobic surroundings of the Walpole court and overzealous and inconsistent officiating threatened to remove all semblance of order from the contest. The lead changed five times before Davis hit a three-pointer with about two minutes left to claim the lead, 35-33, part of a 7-3 finish for the Warriors that had them up 39-36 at the last break.
Walpole would never reclaim the lead, but the Rebels had it down to one, 41-40, when Scales scored in traffic for her 1,000th point of her career with 5:52 left to play. The game was stopped briefly for celebration, but the stoppage also had the unexpected effect of robbing the Rebels of their momentum.
Foxboro scored the next nine points -- a buzzer-beating flip by Abby Hassman, a steal and score by Aislinn Servaes, a three by Mollica and a short jumper by Yara Fawaz off Shakirah Ketant's feed -- to put Foxboro up by 10, 50-40. Walpole would sneak back within six with 26.6 seconds left on a three-point play by Scales, but Mollica and Jordyn Collins wrapped things up at the foul line.
Davis added 11 points and Ketant 10 points and nine rebounds for the Warriors, who shot 42 percent from the field (21-50) to Walpole's 30.4 percent (17-56). Hassman also had nine rebounds, eight in the second half.
A total of 40 fouls were whistled in the game, and while no one fouled out, six players finished the game with four apiece -- Davis, Hassman, Ketant and Collins for Foxboro and Roche and Catie Hurley for the Rebels. Strange it is that on a night when I actually paid to get into the game, I paid for the "privilege" of watching the officials wanting to be noticed.
The Warriors are back in action Friday night at home against a desperate North Attleboro team that will need to win one of its last two games to qualify for the Division 2-South playoff. Game time is 6:30, and I'll be on hand for the Foxboro Cable Access telecast.
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