Granby Memorial Uses Second-Half Run to Put Away Bolton

The girls basketball team turned a third-quarter four-point deficit into an 18-point fourth quarter lead, coasting to a 59-34 victory at home over Bolton High on Tuesday evening.

Haley Makuch (a game-high 16 points, Kristen Endorf (14 points) and Emily Stone (10 points) all scored in double figures to help the Bears (13-3) to their fourth consecutive convincing victory after suffering a rough loss to Ellington on Jan. 17.

“Losses are going to happen, but if you can learn from the loss, that’s going to make you a better team,” Granby Memorial High head coach Dean Godin said. “We really could have been crippled from that [Ellington] loss. It was a demoralizing loss. We started to break apart and we really got together and had a meeting as a team and we decided who we wanted to be. The kids have really bought into it. They decided they wanted to play team basketball. We’ve been pretty [darn] good since then.”

While Makuch, Endorf and Stone were high scorers, it was Gabby Dixon (8 points) who sparked the Bears’ 22-0 second-half run when play resumed after an injury time out with the teams knotted 29-29 with 3:15 left in the third quarter.

“I was worried the injury timeout would have put a stall into what we were doing,” Godin said. “They had just hit a big three. We came down and we scored. I was worried that would have deflated us, because we started to get the momentum.”

But Dixon had a 3-point play and hit a short jumper to put Granby Memorial up by five points with 1:38 left in the third.

“Gabby brings a lot to our team, but it was a collective team effort,” Godin said. “We played good team basketball in the second half. We made a couple of adjustments on their screen and rolls and that made all the difference.”

Makuch’s two baskets bookended an Endorf free throw to give the Bears a 10-point cushion at 39-29 at the end of the third period and Granby Memorial was on its way.

“We’re really tough to beat if both [Makuch and Endorf] are clicking,” Godin said. “I thought Kristen did a great job taking what the defense gave her. That was as good a team game as she could play.”

Sara Eckhardt had 4 points in the victory, while Kylynn Kane had three and Ellie McDougall had two.

It was a tough loss for Bolton (8-7), who went toe-to-toe with Granby Memorial before two second-half injuries to key players - a guard and a forward - resulted in a loss of momentum. Indeed, the Bulldogs led 23-22 at halftime courtesy of strong 3-point shooting, but they scored just 11 points in the entire second half.

“They’re two key players; we play 10 kids and they’re in that group of 10,” Bolton head coachg Wayne Hapgood said. “When they’re not on the floor, I have to go to kids who don’t normally play for us. We backed off on defense we normally play and gave up some easy offensive boards that we shouldn’t be giving up.”

Marissa Gudaukas led the Bulldogs with 9 points, while Jaime Grzych had 7, Kelsey Socha 6, Olivia Schipani had 5 and Ali Hanlon and Paige Swanson each had two.

While the injuries played a factor, Granby Memorial’s defense also stepped up and prevented Bolton’s shooters from taking open 3-pointers.

“It’s a lot harder to shoot when you have a good close out,” Godin said.