LYNN – An unpracticed North Squad just did what came naturally to them Monday night at Lynn Classical, and that was enough for a 55-33 win over the South in the annual Agganis Basketball All-Star Game.
The North came out from the opening jump with a fast pace that just seemed to get more intense as the game progressed.
“We had no practice,” coach Mark Cole of Hamilton-Wenham said. “Nobody really has played with anybody probably outside of AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), so I just told them the same thing we do at Hamilton.
“Just go get the ball and then go,” he said. “Look at the scoring transition, that way you don’t have to set up an offense. If we did have to set up an offense it was just a simple screen and roll, pass and pick. They executed it extremely well.”
Not having practices beforehand meant that the team met for the first time for warm-ups before the game. All but one duo on the team have never played together before, which was a challenge in itself when trying to think of a strategy for the game.
“In the first half I was trying to see who could play with who. Then in the second half it was more of bigger groups in and letting them go for three or four minutes,” said Cole. “I wanted to make sure that everyone got an equal amount of playing time or as close to equal amount of time as we could. It was a good effort on the girls.”
The same thought process was going on the other end of the court.
“We didn’t really have a game plan,” he said. “I told the girls to play hard and it’s an All-Star game so we don’t get to practice or anything. So it’s meeting some of the girls today,” said South’s coach Adam DeBaggis from Bishop Fenwick. “Just play with instincts and play hard. We just couldn’t hit shots and they made a lot of good shots.
The score at the end of the first half was 26-12 with the North already sitting at a 14-point lead over the South. The South tried to make a comeback with Ernidia Orfanos leading the charge in the second half but failed to keep up with the increasing pace of Jackie Malley and the rest of the North team.
The North was able to hold off the South on defense.
“I was impressed with their defense as well. I didn’t think we would play as strong on defense, but everyone seemed to like playing defense,” said Cole.
“We did a three then they would go down and make a three. We couldn’t really make any ground. So, we tried a little bit about pressing the second half. But I don’t want to do too much of that in a game like this anyway. They played a little bit better than us,” said DeBaggis. “But I got to play one last time with two of my seniors so that’s nice.”
