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10 WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 MARCH 22, 2018
Fenwick falls in state semifinal to Williams
By Anne Marie Tobin
WOBURN — When it comes
to Archbishop Williams, Bishop
Fenwick girls basketball coach
Adam DeBaggis hit the nail right
on the head after the Crusaders
defeated Bedford Saturday
to claim their second North
Division 3 championship in three
years and set up a semifinal bout
with the Bishops.
“Archbishop Williams can
score in bunches, they rebound
extremely well and they have
five girls on the floor at all times
who are capable of producing
offense in a hurry, and with the
best point guard in the state in
Asiah Dingle, they will be tough
to stop,” DeBaggis said.
Unfortunately for the
Crusaders, DeBaggis’ observations
proves to be spot on March
14 at Woburn High.
The Bishops, behind a 30-point
effort from Dingle, who will take
her talents this fall to Division 1
Kent State, and a dominant effort
off the offensive glass, turned
a tight game into a rout and ran
away with a 69-51 victory to
dash the Crusaders’ dreams of
playing for a second state championship
in the last three years.
Instead, it was the Bishops
who played for -- and won --
their second straight Division 3
title and third state championship
plaque in four years when they
ran West champion Hampshire
off the map, 77-42, at Springfield
PHOTO | ANNE MARIE TOBIN
Liz Gonzalez (24), shown boxing out Williams’ Jess Knight, scored
eight points in the Division 3 state semifinal loss to the Bishops.
College’s Blake Arena.
“I don’t think she (Dingle)
did anything crazy that hurt us,
it was more so the one pass, the
shot and we stopped that, but they
get the rebound and go back up
and either make it or get the foul,
so it was stuff like that,” said
DeBaggis. “Initially I thought we
were defending pretty well, but
we allowed their shooters to take
shots and that wasn’t smart on our
part, and then their second chance
points were also a huge factor
tonight.”
The game started out well for
Fenwick. Senior captain Jennie
Meagher swatted the opening tip
off right into the hands of junior
captain Jaxson Nadeau (7 points)
on the fly, who laid it in just five
seconds into the game.
After Dingle answered right
back with a coast-to-coast 3-point
play, Meagher grabbed a big rebound
and fed senior captain
Sammi Gallant (12 points), who
added two more with an underhanded
scoop to give Fenwick a
4-3 lead.
That was the last lead the
Crusaders would have in the
game. The Bishops went on a
16-4 run to go into the second
quarter ahead by 11, 19-8.
Fenwick slowly chipped away
in the second quarter and closed
to within three points on three
occasions, the first after a free
throw by junior Olivia DiPietro
(3 points, 5 boards) that made it
21-18, then again at 23-20 after
freshman Liz Gonzalez (8 points)
converted both ends of a 1-and-1.
But Gonzalez wasn’t done yet.
After Bridgette O’Reilly drained
a three, Gonzalez responded
with a three of her own to cut the
Bishops’ lead to 26-23 with four
minutes to play in the first half.
After that, it was all Williams,
which went on an 11-2 run in the
last two minutes to enter halftime
with a 37-25 lead.
The momentum carried over
into the third quarter as the
Bishops poured it on, outscoring
Fenwick 21-8 to take a commanding
25-point lead at 58-33
into the final eight minutes.
Williams stretched the lead
to as many as 28, but Fenwick
showed some poise and grit by
taking the ball to the hoop and
hitting 13-of-14 foul shots in
the fourth quarter to whittle the
Bishops’ lead down to under 20
points a couple of times, but it
was too little too late.
“I felt really good at the beginning,
but it just kind of snowballed
late in the second quarter
and again in the third quarter
late,” said DeBaggis. You can’t
let that happen against the good
teams, you can get away with
it against average teams but
not against a team like this. I
wouldn’t even call them good,
they are elite.”
Meagher finished the final
game of her high school career
with a double double (10 points,
12 rebounds), while fellow senior
Fredi DeGuglielmo finished with
5 points. Fittingly, DeGuglielmo
hit the final Fenwick basket of
the game, a long 3-pointer from
6 feet behind the arc to cut the
Crusaders’ deficit to 19, 68-49,
with about a minute to go.
“We just didn’t hit our shots
tonight,” DeGuglielmo said. “I
can’t say enough about what this
team accomplished this year,
with all the adversity and injuries.
Obviously, we are all disappointed,
but it just wasn’t our
night tonight. I consider it my
pleasure and honor to have been
able to play with these girls for
four years and accomplish the
things we did.”