O’Bryant girls pull off comeback win over Latin Academy to advance to Boston City League championship

It is not common for Trudy Fisher to see her O’Bryant girls basketball team play tentative, but that’s exactly how she thought the Tigers looked at times in a Boston City League semifinal against Latin Academy on Friday.

But when it mattered most, Fisher’s group found its aggressive streak and made the plays it needed in a 43-38 comeback win at the Tigers’ home gym to advance to Saturday’s City final.

O’Bryant (10-0) will host Fenway on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“The girls were playing very timid,” Fisher said. “That’s not the way they normally play. If they play like that (Saturday), we’ll be in trouble. But I think they picked it up and started attacking the basket. That was the difference in the game.”

Indeed, it felt like O’Bryant was settling for too many jumpers early on, as Latin Academy (8-3, with all three losses to O’Bryant) threw a variety of zone defenses at the Tigers. Whether it was a 1-3-1, 2-3, or 1-2-2, the Dragons did an excellent job of getting hands into passing lanes and making things difficult for the hosts.

But in the second half, O’Bryant found its rhythm in the half-court, as Lina Guerrero (15 points) and Jasmine Cox (10 points) did most of the scoring. Guerrero showed off a nifty hesitation move to get in the lane, and made good decisions when dumping it off to someone with a better look.

“We saw what they were giving us. We took what they gave us,” said Guerrero, who had five assists and five rebounds to fill out a strong all-around game. “They kept committing fouls. Their best players both had four fouls going into the third quarter. And they kept going through. We kept passing the ball, swinging the ball, going into the middle, and the name of the game is making your layups and finishing, though.”

Latin Academy was led by Jordan Bellot, who scored 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Her drive and bucket in the third quarter gave her team a 21-12 lead, the Dragons’ biggest advantage.

But O’Bryant began to kick it into high gear, and took its first lead since 8-6 in the first quarter when a Mcrae Weideir layup off a nice feed from Guerrero put the Tigers up, 36-34, in the fourth quarter. Jahbria Horsley drilled a right-wing 3-pointer to push the O’Bryant lead to 39-35 late, and Guerrero sealed it at the line, going 4-for-4 in the final 10 seconds.

“Tough defense on both ends of the court,” Latin Academy coach Bill Dever said. “It was playoff defense in a short season.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3ktTZKS