Girls' Basketball Rebounds Against Crosby

Maybe the Woodland girls’ basketball team doesn’t like doing things the easy way. The Hawks had to come back from another halftime deficit, this time against winless Crosby, but poured it on in the second half to come away with a comfortable 66-44 win Saturday in Beacon Falls.

It was all Woodland early, as the Hawks quickly jumped out on the Bulldogs by posting a 14-3 run in the opening 6:15 of the game. As usual, it was senior guard Sam Werner (team-high 19 points) leading the Woodland offense, scoring five points for her team to kick-start the run.

However, Crosby, which has not earned a victory in several years, somewhat surprisingly mounted a run of its own to close the first quarter. The Bulldogs finished the period with a 7-0 streak to close the deficit to 14-10. But Crosby wasn’t finished quite yet. They continued their run by netting the first six points of the second quarter to take a 16-14 lead with seven minutes remaining in the half.

Woodland sophomore forward Heather Framski (15 points, 15 rebounds) kept the Hawks close throughout the rest of the half by scoring three of the four field goals her team managed in the second quarter. Her jumper with 2:20 left in the half gave the Hawks a 22-19 lead, but the Bulldogs reeled off an 8-1 run to take a 27-23 advantage at halftime.

 “Crosby just went on a run in the second quarter, which helped to boost their confidence,” Woodland Head Coach Gail Strumpf said. “They played really well there.”

Out of the locker room, the momentum of the game swung right into the Hawks’ favor. The Black and Gold went on an 8-0 run to start the third quarter, led by the hot hand of junior guard Jen Fredericks (12 points). The Bulldogs tied the game back up at 32 with a three-pointer by Tyra Brooks, but Woodland took back control and finished the period with a 9-0 streak, fueled by the combination of Framski and Werner, to take a 41-32 lead.

The Hawks continued to blow the game open in the fourth quarter, extending its run by tacking on another 13-3 streak to essentially put the game away at 54-35 with five minutes remaining. It was during this run that junior forward Katie Alfiere finally seemed to overcome her recent shooting woes (particularly on the glass) by knocking down several layups and finished with 15 points and 14 boards.

“I was in a slump,” Alfiere said. “A really big slump… But we didn’t play up to the caliber we are capable of in the first half. We played a lot better in the second half.”

Woodland coasted for the final five minutes of the game and put away the Bulldogs, 66-44, to snap a three-game losing streak and move its record to 4-3 on the year.

“We just need to have confidence in ourselves,” Strumpf said. “We’re a young team. Certain things work for certain players, and once they get comfortable in the game we can play really well.”