Unionville rallies past rival Kennett with late comeback
EAST MARLBOROUGH >> Unionville, which has won several games with late rallies this season, did it again Tuesday night, rebounding from a five-point deficit in the final 4 1/2 minutes for a 39-34 girls’ basketball win against visiting Kennett.
With 4:35 to play, the Longhorns (7-1) trailed the Blue Demons 32-27 after Kennett’s Ellie Matthews nailed a trey from near midcourt. In the next four minutes, the hosts made a 10-0 run to come away with another hard-fought victory.
Every time we play Kennett, it’s a rivalry game; they’re well-coached and it’s a tough game every time we play them,” said Unionville head coach Fred Ellzy. “I think our offense was a little stagnant tonight. It’s all about attacking the basket. I want us to be a team that attacks the basket; when we don’t do that, we put ourselves in a hole. In the second half, we started attacking, Kennett got into some foul trouble [late] and we were able to step away with a win.
“Kennett runs a very good 2-3 zone defense; their girls are very aggressive out front, and they do a good job of making you get rid of the ball, and if you’re not hitting shots they’re a tough team to beat. Because we didn’t hit [many] shots tonight, the game stayed close, and it was a situation in which we could have lost the game.”
In the first half, neither Unionville nor Kennett (2-4) was hitting many shots, and the first half ended with the score 13-13. In the third quarter, the visiting Blue Demons began to connect from the perimeter, getting treys from Ellie Matthews (their lone senior starter), freshman guard Greta Burns and sophomore Makayla Kelly.
Kennett ended the third quarter with a 26-25 lead, and finished the game with six treys (two each from Matthews and Kelly, who combined for 22 points Tuesday evening).
“I think our offense got better as the game went on, as we tried to get the ball inside, and move the ball from inside to outside,” said Kennett head coach Vince Cattano. “I thought it [became] pretty solid.”
Kennett took a 29-25 lead early in the fourth quarter when freshman guard Mary Carroll hit a trey from the right side. Unionville senior forward Alexia Brown’s putback cut the Blue Demons’ lead to 29-27, then Matthews came up with another trey to make it 32-27 with 4:35 left. Matthews led all scorers with 12 points.
Unionville junior forward Anya Budow scored underneath, then less than a minute later drew a foul and converted both free throws to cut the visitors’ lead to 32-31 with 3:28 left.
The Longhorns put on a pressure defense, and Brown intercepted a Kennett pass. Unionville sophomore guard Riley Angstadt drew a foul, and her free throw tied the game at 32-32 with 3:15 to play.
Unionville senior guard and co-captain Lindsey Robbins made both ends of a one-and-one to give the hosts a 34-32 lead with 2:18 left; then following a long possession by Unionville, drew another foul and made both shots to give the Longhorns a 36-32 lead with 53.5 seconds remaining. Robbins led all Unionville scorers with nine points.
“Lindsey had a nice game for us, making those free throws in crunch time when we really needed them, and it was nice to see her step up,” said Ellzy. “Having [Matthews] get into foul trouble was helpful for us because she’s such a key part of that team, and it made it a little easier for us to get to the basket, be a little more aggressive. [Matthews] helps them with handling the ball, so we put on a press and got a few turnovers, which helped to change the momentum of the game.”
Cattano noted, “When Ellie went out, it kind of changed the complexion of the game. She settles us down in a lot of ways.”
In the fourth quarter, Unionville went 10-for-14 from the free throw line, getting points from six different players in the final stanza.
“We have a very balanced attack, we have 5-6 people who can score the ball,” noted Ellzy.
When asked for the key to his team’s penchant for second-half comebacks, Ellzy responded, “I think it’s usually the talk we have at halftime. They get motivated and come out and play a little bit harder than they did in the first half. Tonight at halftime, I told them it was time to play our [type of] game, and if we play our kind of game, we can be successful.”
Cattano said, “This was a tough loss; our kids are battling, and I feel for them. A tough loss like this probably eats at them; but we’re competing. We have to learn that, as these close games come down to the end of the game, we have to control the pace, control the tempo, and dictate the outcome of the game and not the other team.”
Unionville 39, Kennett 34
KENNETT (34): Carroll 1 0-0 3, Ebaugh 0 0-0 0, Lindner 1 0-0 0, Burns 1 2-2 5, E. Matthews 5 0-0 12, Kelly 4 0-4 10, Kosara 0 0-0 0, M. Matthews 0 2-2 2, Harper 0 0-0 0, Totals 12 4-8 34.
UNIONVILLE (39): Lang 2 0-0 4, Amoss 0 2-4 2, Lockwood 0 0-0 0, A. Brown 3 0-0 6, Dempsey 2 1-2 5, Robbins 2 4-4 9, West 0 0-0 0, Angstadt 2 2-4 7, Budow 1 4-4 6, Totals 12 13-18 39.
Kennett 7 6 13 8 – 34
Unionville 6 7 12 14 – 39
Three-point goals: Carroll, Burns, E. Matthews 2, Kelly 2, Robbins, Angstadt.
