By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
It’s back to familiar territory for Coach Rob Davis and his North Adams Lady Devils are on their way back to the Division V district championship after two tournament wins in the past week. In the district quarterfinals, the Lady Devils easily handled Nelsonville-York 73-44, then came back on Saturday at the Waverly Downtown Gym to handle New Lexington by a final score of 53-38.
North Adams was the host school for the district quarterfinal on February 18 and blitzed Neelsonville-York to the tune of a 16-1 lead in the first quarter, with Emma Pistole and Sophia Barlow combining for 16 first quarter points as the Lady Devils were never really seriously challenged.
In her normal calm, collected, unassuming fashion, Emma Pistole led the winners with 22 points, with three teammates also reaching double figures- Tenzlee Burns with 13, Ava Pistole with 12 and Barlow with 11.
That win sent North Adams to Waverly on Saturday afternoon for a district semifinal match up with the Lady Panthers of New Lexington and again the Lady Devils took control early and led wire-to-wire, getting a three-pointer from Jacee Davis on their first possession and another from Tenzlee Burns that gave them a 9-3 advantage. The lead increased to double digits on a shirt jumper from Elizabeth Raines, but New Lexington got the last five points of the opening quarter to close the gap to 15-10.
Baskets by Davis and Raines began the second period and were part of a 10-2 run that also included scores by the Pistole sisters and gave North Adams a 25-12 advantage. When the halftime horn sounded, the Lady Devils were still sitting up by double digits at 26-15.
The Lady Panthers inched closer on a three-pointer from Makenzy McCoy to open the third quarter, but the resilient Lady Devils responded with a six-point spurt to push the lead back to 12. New Lexington didn’t go away, however, as they got a steal and score from Izzie Ward and three-pointer from Gracie Newton to cut the deficit to 34-25, but the Lady Devils ended the third stanza with a bucket from Emma Pistole and a three-ball from Burns and with eight minutes left on the clock, North Adams was up 39-27.
The key to that final eight minutes for the Lady Devils holding a 12-point lead was to be patient and make the clock their sixth man and on some possession they did that and others they didn’t, much to the chagrin of Coach Davis. They beat the New Lexington press on their first possession for a wide open Emma Pistole layup and at the six-minute mark another Burns three-ball jumped the lead to 44-29.
New Lexington got the next two scores to keep their fading hopes alive, but an acrobatic, spinning bucket in the lane from Burns kept the Lady Panthers at bay. A bucket from Ava Pistole followed as the Lady Devils began to sense the kill, up 48-34 with three minutes to play. New Lexington got another three from McCoy, but the Lady Devils closed the door with baskets by Burns and Pistole to punch their ticket to the district finals with the 53-38 final.
“We wanted to keep them from driving and I thou8ght we did that pretty well, but we still need to rebound better,” said Coach Davis in his postgame radio spot. “We get our hands on a lot of balls but just don’t hang on to them. On our side, we don’t have that third consistent scorer but we still seem to get someone to step up each night.”
The victorious North Adams squad was led in scoring by the dynamic duo of Tenzlee Burns and Emma Pistole, who scored 18 and 17 points respectively. New Lexington was topped by 13 points apiece from Makenzy McCoy and Chloe Dick.
The Lady Devils now face a daunting task if they want to make another Sweet 16 appearance as the will travel back to Waverly on Saturday to face one of the top Division V teams in the state and last year’s state champion, the #1 seeded Portsmouth Lady Trojans. That district championship game is slated for a noon tip off.
“We’ll have our hands full on Saturday with the state champions but that’s what you play for,” said Coach Davis. “To get there you have to beat the best so we’ll game plan and see what happens. We’re both 2-0 now and that is what the tournament is all about.”
Box Score
New Lexington
10 5 12 11 —38
North Adams
15 11 13 14 —53
N. Lexington (38): Ward 3 1-2 7m McCoy 4 3-6 13, Newton 1 0-0 3, Dick 5 2-4 13, Dupler 1 0-0 2, Team 14 6-12 38.
N. Adams (53): E. Pistole 6 5-10 17, Davis 2 0-0 5, Barlow 1 0-0 2, Burns 7 1-2 18, A. Pistole 2 3-4 7, Raines 2 0-0 4, Team 20 9-16 53.
Three-Point Goals:
N. Lexington (4)- Newton 1, McCoy 2, Dick 1
N. Adams 94)- Davis 1, Burns 3