Lady Wildcats overcome early deficit to beat Mashpee 48-43

Story and photos by Richard W Dionne Jr
Posted 1/29/18

Seventh grade forward Dakota Azevedo sank two free throws with 10 seconds left to ice the game and give the Lady Wildcats a 48-43 come from behind victory …

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Lady Wildcats overcome early deficit to beat Mashpee 48-43

Posted

WESTPORT — Seventh grade forward Dakota Azevedo sank two free throws with 10 seconds left to ice the game and give the Lady Wildcats a 48-43 come from behind victory over Mashpee at home on Monday night. Seconds earlier Azevedo stole the ball with the Cats protecting a one point (44-43) lead and hurled a pass to senior Madison Martins on a fast break, who strode in for a layup to give the Cats a 46-43 lead with 27 seconds left.

“Dakota is a heck of a defensive player. She’s fearless. To stick those two foul shots, she’s got total ice water (in her veins) knocking those two down. That was huge,” said head coach Michael Ponte.

Westport improved their record to 9-5 in MAC Comprehensive Division.

Down 19-10 at the half, The Cats had problems finding the hoop early and also had trouble matching up with Mashpee’s bigger and taller players and their quickness under the net.

“To be down by nine. I don’t think that it’s possible to shoot worse than we did in the first half. We couldn’t make a shot,” said coach Ponte

The Cats came out of the break determined to play tougher against their larger opponents. Senior forward Madison Martins, freshman forward Jess Carney and Azevedo played tough under the boards, drove to the basket and got to the line.

“I challenged them in the second half. I told them, ‘girls I need a monster effort down low.’ They were outsized big time and they never quit. Madison and Jess they fight tooth and nail all game long. And they got a bunch of rebounds for us in the second half,” said coach Ponte.

Coach Ponte urged the team to swing the ball around the perimeter and get it into the hands of seventh grade guard Leah Sylvain who was consistently unguarded from the corner on the three point line. Sylvain sank three threes in the third quarter to get the Cats back into the game, 30-32. She had another in the fourth quarter to give the Cats a 38-37 lead with 6:06 left to play. Sylvain scored 16 points to lead the team. Laila Silver scored 11 points, Carney scored 8 points, Martins scored 6 points, Azevedo scored 4 and Sarah Edwards scored 3 points.

“They all played great. This was a huge win for the program. I couldn’t be happier,” said coach Ponte.

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