THE REJECTOR – Catherine Harrison was a stalwart on the defensive
end with several blocked shots and rebounds.

The Duxbury girls’ basketball team opened its post-season journey with a convincing 65-44 win over No. 13 seeded Hopkinton on Wednesday night in Duxbury. The win sends the Lady Dragons into Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinal action in Duxbury against No. 5-seeded Fontbonne Academy of Milton.

The 13-8 Hillers came to Duxbury without the services of senior captain Tess Chandler; a lacrosse All-American and one of the team’s top athletes. But it didn’t seem to matter to the No. 4-seeded Lady Dragons, who had a distinct height advantage and used it to build a 16-9 first quarter lead with senior captain Michela North torching the visitors for 10 points.

After his team sprinted to a 10-6 lead, Coach Bob Sullivan inserted Catherine Harrison into the lineup and the 6’1” sophomore center responded with a spectacular defensive performance, blocking three shots underneath and sending a message to the Hillers that they were in for a rough night.

The second quarter opened with sophomore Maddie Foote (21 points) burying a three-point bomb and sending the Lady Dragons off on a 14-0 run for a 30-9 lead with two minutes left in the half. With 1:40 to go Hopkinton’s Jenna Hanlon scored her team’s only two points of the quarter and when the half ended Duxbury found themselves ahead 33-11.

A SOLID NIGHT’S WORK – Maddie Foote gets a fist pump from
Coach Sullivan after her 21-point effort.

Hopkinton started the second half with five points, but senior Bridget Quilty (2) and Foote (6) responded to up the score to 41-16. Foote hit another three with 2:40 left in the quarter to give the Lady Dragons their biggest lead at 46-20, forcing Hopkinton Coach Rita Atkinson to call a timeout to kill Duxbury’s momentum.

When play resumed Harrison had another rejection and Duxbury ended the third quarter with a 49-26 lead.

The teams played evenly over the final eight minutes, allowing Sullivan to clear his bench with 2:24 to go and insert Erin Guilfoile, Peyton Madigan, Molly Quilty, Emma Gill, and Haley Mclaughlin, all of whom saw their first tournament action.

Foote was the team’s leading scorer for the night, while North chipped in with 19 points and senior captain Kate Norton contributed 10.