Eagles pull away with fourth-quarter run to defeat Midview on Senior Night

It’s fitting that Abby Owens had one of her best games of the girls basketball season on Senior Night. Avon’s senior wing led all players with 23 points Wednesday as the host Eagles combined a modest fourth quarter scoring run with shut-down defense to defeat Midview, 54-47.

Owens was as much relieved as anything after her big night, as she had struggled to score in Avon’s most recent games.

“The past few games I haven’t been able to get shots to fall, so it was good to actually see shots falling today,” she said. “I just had to get through it and be ready for next game, next play.”

She was especially effective in the first half, scoring 16 of her team’s 27 points, as the Eagles took a 27-20 lead into the locker room.

“Abby was great,” said coach Adam Castrilla. “I’m happy for her on any night, but the fact that it was her senior night and she was able to play so well, I’m just really happy for her. We’re going to miss her a ton, but we’re also going to enjoy her for the time we have left. You really can’t tell if she’s playing well based on her expression. She’s calm, cool and collected all the time. She’s just a really good basketball player, and we’re lucky to have her.”

Twice in the third quarter, the Eagles led by nine points, once at 29-20 and once at 36-27. The second time came with 4 minutes, 56 seconds left in the period after Owens hit her third 3-pointer of the game. It seemed the Eagles were about to pull away, but instead, the Middies ended the quarter with a 14-3 run to take a 41-39 lead entering the final period. Nine of Midview’s points during the run came from beyond the three-point arc.

“You know, (Leah) DiFranco is the only kid they have who is looking to get it to the rim,” Castrilla said. “Everyone else is hunting their three-point shot, so we’ve got to get matched up. We have to do a better job of that moving forward, but I’m glad to get a teaching moment like that and still come out with a win.”

When the teams met in early January, a 49-38 victory for the Eagles, Midview turned the ball over 32 times, as the Middies really struggled against Avon’s full court trapping pressure. But this time the press wasn’t nearly as effective and Midview turned the ball over 17 times.

So, looking up at a two-point fourth quarter deficit at home on Senior Night, Castrilla decided to make an adjustment.

“They did a good job earlier in the game when we were trying to speed them up,” he said. “They did a good job of preparing for us, because when we were at their place, they really struggled with our press and the trapping. They were ready for that, so we just picked them up in the full court and we didn’t trap. It’s a lot easier to defend when you know you have that place.”

Employing a trapping defense involves taking a calculated risk—if you double-team the ball, somebody has to be open. When Midview made its run in the third quarter, the Middies were beating the traps and finding open three-point shooters in the half court.

Avon’s defensive adjustment worked like a charm. In the first 7 minutes of the final quarter, the Middies only scored one point, and the Eagles’ 9-1 run put the game to bed with a 48-42 lead with 1:05 to play. Avon demonstrated excellent free throw shooting in the fourth quarter, hitting 9 of 12 attempts, including Alaina Pagan and Owens hitting all four of their attempts in the final 48 seconds to keep the Middies at bay.

“That’s how you hold off a team,” Castrilla said. “I’m proud of that because of the work we’ve been putting in. And it’s not so much at practice. It’s after practice, kids finding an open hoop and getting extra shots up. For some of them, it was being willing to accept maybe a little bit of tweaking and going with it and trusting it even though it might feel weird.”

It was the last home game of the season for Avon and its seven seniors: Jordan Aysh, Ellanor Feronti, Emma Fitch, Lily Goins, Audrey Lammers, Emily Mangan, and Owens. While Owens was the only Avon player to reach double figures, she was backed by Sophia Sharp with nine, Pagan with eight and Lammers with seven.

“If you listened as (the seniors) were being introduced, all of the years of playing basketball and then all of their future plans, it kind of makes me feel inadequate,” Castrilla said. “They’re going to neurological this and nursing that and getting to this school and that school. It’s just as well rounded a kid as you could be. For some of them, this year maybe wasn’t the year they were expecting as far as minutes, but it didn’t stop them and I applaud them for that. I’m very thankful to be able to have them as the people you point to when you have such a young team.”