PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Bulldogs’ point guard Ely Guity attempts to drive past Revere’s Pamela Gonzalez.
By DILLON DURST
LYNN — Lynn English coach Rachael Bradley summed up Wednesday night’s matchup between the Bulldogs and Revere best when she described the game as a “tale of two halves.”
After trailing by nine points at halftime, the Patriots (17-4) outscored English (5-13), 51-13, in the second half and went on to win, 74-45.
“We played a great first half,” Bradley said. “(We) came out taking care of the ball well, shooting the ball well, sharing the ball well. Then in the second half, we lost our composure on offense. They put a little more pressure on us defensively, and we broke down.”
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in the first quarter, forcing Revere to take a timeout. The Patriots clearly owned the height advantage on the boards, but couldn’t get their shots to fall. At the end of the first quarter, English held a 15-12 lead.
“Our goal was to limit second-chance opportunities, and in the first half we did a pretty good job of that,” Bradley said.
The Bulldogs didn’t let up in the second quarter, extending their lead to 32-23 at halftime.
“The first half, we didn’t do much well,” said Revere coach Diana Finn. “I was disappointed in our defensive effort. Our shots weren’t falling. We weren’t following our shots. We weren’t doing anything very well defensively. On the ball, off the ball, boxing out.”
The Patriots made some adjustments at halftime, applying more defensive pressure in the third quarter, which stifled English’s offense.
“Their pressure just completely took us out of our offense,” Bradley said. “First half, we were running our plays, we were setting screens, we were moving the ball well. Second half, with that added pressure, we didn’t do our jobs in terms of getting open and really maintaining our composure.”
Revere held the Bulldogs to just seven points in the third quarter, and owned a 49-39 lead to begin the fourth quarter. The Patriots went on to outscore English, 25-6, in the fourth quarter.
Senior Maritza Scott finished with 22 points for Revere, while teammates Pamela Gonzalez and Valentina Pepic each added 14 points for the Patriots.
Sophomore guard Dorothy Ezemba led English offensively with 14 points, and sophomore point guard Ely Guity added eight points for the Bulldogs.
Given Revere’s height advantage, Bradley said the Bulldogs’ goal was to limit the Patriots’ second-chance opportunities, which she said they did extremely well during the first half.
“In the second half, we started to break down with our rotations and our 2-3 (zone),” she said. “We were trying to make sure we covered their shooters, but also get back into the paint for rebounding. We did get hurt rebounding wise in the second half.”
Finn gave a lot of credit to the Patriots’ guards for stopping English’s penetration in the beginning of the second half, but also said their post players played well tonight.
“We were a little slow on the help side getting in,” she said. “We’re always working with our post players to make sure they’re moving, not just getting pinned behind someone and being in good rebounding position, but to be able to slide over and help if there’s penetration down the lane. Our height certainly helps us.”
Finn said she was proud to see the 40-point swing in the second half, but admitted that Revere’s slow start won’t fly come tournament time.
“Going into the tournament, we can’t be coming into games not prepared to go 100 percent from the beginning,” she said.
Dillon Durst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DillonDurst.