Attleboro Girls Win One and Lose One

It was a win and a loss last week for the Attleboro High School girls varsity basketball team. The Bombardiers (10-8) lost to undefeated and state-ranked Oliver Ames last Tuesday, and then recovered two days later with a win over King Philip. The girls play at Taunton tonight, with a win sending them to the postseason tournament.

Oliver Ames Game

In the opening quarter, the Bombardiers were able to keep within striking distance, with two hoops each by Beth Clifton and Bri LaPlume and a shot from behind the arch by Kim Runey. The Tigers held a 16-11 edge at the end of the first eight minutes of play.

LaPlume opened the second stanza with a score, bringing Attleboro to within three of the league-leading orange and black. Eight points by Kerri Beland and four-for-four free-throw shooting by LaPlume closed out the first half with Oliver Ames still in the lead at 30-24.

Attleboro opened the third quarter with a drive to the hoop by Beland, a three-pointer by Runey and a score by LaPlume, cutting the Tigers lead to one point. It was there that Oliver Ames went on a mini-run, scoring the next five points before baskets by Clifton and Beland brought Attleboro to within two points of the team from the shovel town.

In the final eight minutes of play, Oliver Ames again went on a run, scoring nine points before the Bombardiers got on the board with a free throw by Sara Blackwell. The Tigers held the lead by as many as 16 points during the final quarter. With three-point baskets by Beland, Runey, Abby Oliver and Emily Houle, the girls in blue were able to chip away at the Oliver Ames lead. But it was not enough as the Tigers earned another victory, 58-49.

Beland led the Bombardiers with 15 points and LaPlume with 12. Attleboro's aggressive play was sustained by the support of a partisan crowd.

King Philip Game

With KP taking an early 6-0 lead and its swarming defense keeping the Bombardiers from scoring, coach Missy Traversi called an immediate time out. Returning to the court, the Bombardiers got on the scoreboard with hoops by Clifton, Beland and Runey. The low-scoring first quarter ended with King Philip on top, 10-6.

The Bombardiers' Clifton scored first in the second quarter and KP matched that basket, but back-to-back shots by LaPlume knotted the score at 12 all. A hoop by the Warriors gave them the lead once more, but this was the last time the green and white would be in that position. Free throws by LaPlume and Runey, baskets by LaPlume, Clifton and Houle saw the Bombardiers take a 20-16 lead into the locker room. 

Quick third-quarter scores by Clifton and Beland and a trifecta by Runey increased the Bombardier lead to 27-18. A 12-foot shot by Runey and baskets by Clifton and Makaila Lombardy kept Attleboro ahead at the end of the eight-minute segment.

In the final eight minutes of play, Attleboro went seven-for-10 from the free-throw line, and baskets by LaPlume, Houle, Beland and Oliver kept Attleboro in the lead, in spite of eight-for-eight shooting from the stripe by King Philip.

Clifton and LaPlume finished with double-doubles. Clifton scored 10 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, while LaPlume hit for 11 points and 10 rebounds. Oliver was the court general for the Bombardiers and dished out six assists. Houle and Runey contributed eight points each. Attleboro outrebounded KP, 33-21.

The Bombardier freshmen and junior varsity teams made it a perfect 3-0 night, with the freshmen winning 60-34 and the JV squad victorious by a score of 39-32. Maddie Turner poured in 23 points for freshmen coach Jackie Beland and Olivia Kass had 13 for JV coach Emily Wadleigh.