Girls Basketball: Bears Stifle East Granby 46-21

The University of Arkansas men’s basketball team won the 1994 NCAA Division I national title with a high-pressure, chaotic style of play known as “40 Minutes of Hell.”

Flash forward 18 years and you’ll find a similar style of play here in Connecticut, as the girls basketball team employs its own high school version of the brainchild of former Razorbacks’ head coach Nolan Richardson.

Call it “32 Minutes of Heck.”

The Bears, with a hand in the face of every shooter and contesting every pass, ran their record to 6-0 by soundly defeating North Central Connecticut Conference rival East Granby High 46-21 on Wednesday evening in East Granby.

“We try to turn the game into chaos and we want to play hard,” Granby Memorial head coach Dean Godin said. “That’s how we made our bones.”

Senior guard Gabby Dixon typifies the intense, physical style of play, diving for every loose ball and banging under the boards with zeal, particularly in the final two quarters. It’s a style of play that doesn’t necessarily translate into individual stats, but it does wonders for the team in the ‘Win’ column.

“You were just introduced to Gabby Dixon in the second half tonight,” Godin said. “We hadn’t seen the real Gabby [prior to the East Granby game]...she does a lot of the right things just by being an athlete. When she puts that kind of effort in, we’re pretty tough."

“She’s the engine of our team, basically. I’ve said it a million times, she’s the best defensive player in the league. There’s no player I’d rather have.”

It’s quite a role reversal for Dixon, who led the girls soccer team in scoring by a mile as an All-State striker.

“In soccer, I’m more the scorer,” Dixon said after the game. “I like to score the goals. But in basketball, I’m not really a scorer. It’s kind of hard for me. But defense, it’s easier for me because it’s less thinking. In soccer you don’t think about plays. In basketball you have to run around and know where you are going."

Don't be fooled though, Granby Memorial can score as well. Against East Granby, Kristen Endorf led the Bears’ balanced attack with a game-high 11 points, while Emily Stone scored nine, Michelle Guttermuth chipped in six and Dixon, Julia Mazzotta and Emily Uhl each had four.

East Granby (2-3), despite its inexperienced roster (the Crusaders have twice as many freshmen on its team - four - as it does seniors - two) hung in with Granby Memorial for much of the first half.

Granby Memorial jumped out to an early 13-4 lead two minutes into the second period, but a basket and a free-throw by Kayla Johnson (who scored a team-high seven points) closed the gap to 13-7 with 3:46 left in the half.

But a 3-pointer by the sharpshooting Guttermuth put Granby Memorial back up by nine. The Bears went into the locker room at halftime leading 18-9.

“We weren’t focused, we weren’t ready to play and East Granby played a heck of a half of basketball,” Godin said. “East Granby dictated the game of basketball to us. They’re well-coached. [East Granby head coach Tim Doherty] is a veteran. He knows what to do.”

Granby Memorial came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, however, using swarming defense to spark a 12-0 burst - a basket from Emily Uhl, a steal and a lay in by Stone, a runner by Endorf, another steal and lay in by Guttermuth, a bucket from Endorf and a Kylynne Kane basket - to open the third quarter and salt the game away.

Morgan Beatty had six points for East Granby, while Kara Dumas had four and Samantha Daleb and Eileen Dempsey each chipped in two.

“We were a little outmanned; we’re a young team that’s trying to find our way,” Doherty said after the game. “We’re struggling running the half court offense. Hopefully we’ll keep working hard and get better every day. … As a coach you hope that what you put on the floor works out. I thought we had a good game plan, but we struggled. We’ve got to go back to square one.”

Notes: Before the game, former Crusader Dani Davis was honored for scoring over 1,000 points in her career. Look for an article tomorrow on The Granbys Patch.