Groton Dunstable Travel Basketball

November 20, 2015

Press Release

G4/5

The girls grade four and five team fell 22-17 to Nashoba in their season opener.  After a bit of a slow start, the girls found their groove in the second half,  where they scored 12 of their 17 points.  Mia Trawick lead G-D with six points and Kate Foster chipped in with four.  Emerson McAdam was strong on the boards all afternoon against the taller Nashoba team.

B4/5

The grade four and five travel team beat TAP in its first game of the season  21-11. Cooper Granville scored five points and Connor Buchman and Sam Ormsby had four each.  Theo Murphy, Kevin Broderick and Ryan Hamel played tremendous defense and had several assists each.  Patrick Kelly and Christian Tims did a great job on the boards, securing numerous rebounds.

B5

The fifth-grade boys had a great first game in Fitchburg Sunday against a very talented team. G-D trailed by six at the half (20-14) and closed the deficit to three points with three minutes to go but ultimately ran out of steam. The final score was 36-24. Andrew Stenstream and Taylor Wiercinski led the team in scoring with seven points apiece and Finn Bernard chipped in with four. Will Vogel and Ajaje McCracken-Bradley had four rebounds apiece.

G6

The sixth-grade girls got off to a strong start against Acton Boxboro and were only down by four at the half.  Turnovers ended up being their nemesis, however, and the Crusaders fell 32-17.

With the speed of Cassidy Lacombe, Haly Buchmann and Lidia Spada, the Crusaders broke the A-B full court press early and often.

On the scoring end, Lacombe led all scorers with five points, Lida Spada had four, and Lauren Phelps, Taylor Caldwell, Haly Buchmann, and Clare Joyce each had two points.

Rebounding was fairly strong across the board for the Lady Crusaders with Rebecca Brennan leading with five and Taylor Caldwell and Lauren Phelps both pulling in four.

B6

The sixth-grade boys has already tied its 2014-15 record with a hard-fought win against Acton-Boxborough Blue. The final score was 39-37. G-D was up 19-10 at the half, but allowed that lead to slip away and fell behind mid-way through the second half.  B6 battled back with the help of a few well-timed threes from Chris Smith and Jack Gerrish.  All nine guys did well on defense (player 10, Tucker Granville, is injured).  Jem Booth and Matt Egan were scrappy as always, coming down with some rebounds and diving on the floor for loose balls. 

But the new guys were the star of the show, falling right in to their rotations.  The team benefitted from the height of Will Dagle (11 points from the paint), the speed of Luke Williams (defending A-B’s fast breaks) and the toughness of Tommy Raymond (two points on a breakaway lay up.

G7

The seventh- grade girls started their season at home against the powerful Acton-Boxboro. It was a battle from the opening whistle, with G-D relying largely on a stingy half-court trap to keep A-B’s scoring to a minimum. After several minutes of scoreless play, A-B scored first, opening up a 6-0 lead. Katie Eberhardt, returning to the team after a two-year hiatus, scored G-D’s first point of the season from the free throw line, and also led the team in rebounds for the game, to make the score 6-1. Caroline Straw (5 points) then sliced to the basket adding two more for G-D. The first half ended with G-D down 9-15, as they struggled against the A-B full court pressure, which led to several G-D turnovers.  In the second half, G-D kept up the defensive pressure varying defenses and holding A-B to only eight in the half. Amanda LaCombe shined offensively for G-D, scoring eight points for the Crusaders including a three-pointer in the second half to close the gap. Lack of offensive production proved G-D’s undoing as A-B edged them out by a final score 15-23.

B7

The seventh-grade boys lost a hard fought contest today at home against Fitchburg. This comes after consecutive pre-season wins over both Chelmsford and Westford.   It was a back-and-forth game with several momentum swings.  Andrew Watkins, Riley Curran, Dougie Tompkins and Jack Barry all had six points apiece to lead the Crusaders in scoring.

Matt Fordham and Kyle Plausse did a nice job getting the ball up court against a very tough full court man defense while Alex Bushnell and Ryan Bernard set the tone on defense.  Matt Lemarre did a good job bringing energy and rebounds to the contest. G-D will look to rebound against Leominster in two weeks and are very optimistic about the season’s outlook.

G8

The eighth-grade girls got the season off to a successful start on a busy first weekend.  The girls won two games on Saturday against King Philip and MASCO at the Pentucket Pre-Season Jamboree.  On Sunday, the G8's opened league play at Leominster with a solid 39-15 win. Their defensive pressure and a balanced offensive attack were too much for Leominster.

The G8's press and transition offense opened the game up quickly, resulting in a 27-3 half time lead.  Bronwyn Mulligan led all scorers with 11 points, but it was her defense that set the tone as she gathered multiple steals and rebounds.  Molly Braley and Emma Wilson chipped in six points each. Overall G-D had a very balanced attack as seven players contributed with four or more points.

B8

In the season opener for both teams, the B8 Crusaders visited the cozy confines of the Farley school in Hudson.  Always a tough place to play, G-D emerged victorious, 49-44, in a hard fought battle from start to finish.  In the first half, Stephen Dzwonek provided a spark off the bench with two quick hoops helping G-D build a five-point.  However,  the  Hawks finished the half with a six unanswered points taking a 20-19 lead.  With a trapping defense and Joe O’Malley leading the team on both ends of the court, the Crusaders started to separate building an eight-point lead.  Once again, Hudson battled back tying the game midway through the second half.  After Hudson hit a three-point field goal to get within one with two minutes left, Charlie Willis answered immediately with a three of his own.  Clutch foul shooting down the stretch secured the win.  12 of G-D’s 30 points in the second half came from the free throw line.

O’Malley led the charge with 14 points. Jack Foster contributed nine, making some key basket for the Crusaders.  Sammy Eggiman had a strong game as well, drawing a key defensive assignment and contributing eight points.