Attleboro Girls' Basketball Falls to Oliver Ames

Some games do not require astute analysis to determine how two teams arrived at the final result. The game between Attleboro High and Oliver Ames girls' basketball on Wednesday night was one of those.

The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 17-4 start and never looked back on their way to a 65-35 win.

From the start, it was obvious that Oliver Ames, widely considered a challenger for the Division 2 state title, was simply a better team. The Lady Bombardiers fought hard but the scrappy play and effort that they have demonstrated for the past several games was not enough against OA.

"The biggest thing for us tonight was fight, body language, and effort. In my opinion we had that tonight," said Attleboro coach Missy Traversi. "The second half they came back, they fought, they wanted it, and they did what they could against a good team."

OA built a 23-6 lead by the end of the first quarter and, although they were sloppy with the ball in the second quarter, the Tigers had put the game to bed by the end of the third quarter.

Head Coach Elaine Clement-Holbrook was disappointed with her team's defensive energy in the second half regardless of the score as she looks to build with an eye on a postseason run.

"We've got to come mentally prepared to play the game beginning to end," she said. "We're at the point in the season where you start to look at the beyond and if you don't prepare now for the beyond then it will be really brief."

The Lady Bombardiers were much more productive offensively in the second half led by sophomore forward Brianna LaPlume's 12 points (10 in the second half) and seven rebounds. Kirsten Terrien added nine points and Savannah Boyle had five.

The Lady Tigers were led by junior Caitlyn Abela's 14 points, but she had plenty of help from junior guard Asia Mitchell (10 points) and senior captain Candace Steadman (13 points). All three were able to rest for the majority of the fourth quarter after the Lady Tigers made a 10-0 run to increase the lead to 59-24.

Traversi was still able to take positives from the defeat.

"I was able to play some of my younger kids together," she said. "That's good because next year those are the players that we'll be counting on."

Attleboro (3-13) will travel to rivals North Attleboro on Friday night, while Oliver Ames (12-1) will look to solidify their position at the top of the Davenport Division with upcoming games against Sharon and Stoughton.