Sports
Westford Girls Basketball Notches Season-Opening Victory
The Grey Ghosts opened their year with a road victory over Lincoln-Sudbury on Friday night.
After holding their ground following offensive spurts near the beginning of each half, the girls' basketball team left Lincoln-Sudbury with a 68-56 victory on Friday night.
“We got off to a slow start in the first half, a slow start in the second half, but they picked it up,” said Grey Ghosts assistant coach Bob Galokawitz, who took over for a sick head coach Russ Coward. “We put pressure on them and it really did a good job for us.”
The Warriors, who graduated six seniors last year and have three freshmen on this season’s squad, blazed out to a 10-3 advantage to start the contest. During that stretch, junior Ashley Lutz scored five of her game-high 20 points.
But Lincoln-Sudbury quickly entered into foul trouble notching seven fouls to Westford’s zero, and Lutz was forced to take a seat on the bench with two. That changed the momentum of the game and Westford went into halftime leading 42-28, thanks in large part to Hannah Hackley’s 12 points.
“The fouls in the first half were hurtful to us,” said Feldman. “We got ourselves in a bit of a hole.”
The pendulum swung back in the Warriors’ favor coming out of halftime. Ashley Lutz and her sister Meghan combined for 12 points before freshman Kristen Ngan drove for a lay-up tying the score at 42-42.
“I feel really proud the way the kids came back in the second half,” said Feldman. “And I think the new players weren’t so new anymore. And I thought we had a pretty solid second half.”
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A Bailey Mongillo free throw at the 3:12 mark of the third quarter broke the Grey Ghosts’ second-half scoring drought and ignited a 12-5 run that was capped off by a Hackley lay-up. Hackley would finish with a team-high 19 points.
The Warriors attempted a comeback in the fourth quarter, and managed to close the deficit to 59-54 when Ashley Lutz drained a three-pointer from the right wing. But moments later, Hackley grabbed a rebound in the paint, and tallied a basket effectively sealing the victory.
Westford starts their home campaign on Wednesday with a contest against Bedford.