Cape Cod Swish returns to action vs Mass Mavericks

Tuesday Night in front of a handful of college coaches and prep school coaches the Cape Cod Swish traveled to Sudbury, Massachusetts to play in a modified scrimmage versus the Mass Mavericks Black team. Both teams agreed to play four on four, to modify the game to allow for a more safe return to play for the Cape Cod Swish who has yet to play in any events due to the current situation of COVID - 19 and the very strict Massachusetts guidelines around youth sports. Both programs grew to respect each other after seeing how the other handled the Spring and Summer months, working tirelessly and thinking outside of the box to continue helping the players despite the strict state guidelines. Having the opportunity to finally meet up and compete against each other both teams took the court very excited to represent their programs in this matchup that has been in the making for several months. The first period the Mavs jumped out to an early lead, taking advantage of both their homecourt advantage and their size. Having just traveled two plus hours to get to Sudbury and playing their first outside opponent since the high school season, the Swish took a little time getting warmed up. The Mavs defending their home court took control early really benefiting from their size and length on both ends of the court. [player_tooltip player_id="183915" first="Olivia" last="Quinn"] netted seven first period points, while [player_tooltip player_id="183831" first="Caroline" last="Klemm"] and [player_tooltip player_id="183827" first="Lauren" last="Beach"] added six and four points respectively to go along with their half a dozen rebounds. At the end of the first period the Mavs lead 26-9 but this was not a sign of how the rest of the evening would play out as the scores would reset after each period, and the Swish would continue to heat up! The second quarter began and the Swish found their rhythm on both ends of the floor. Cassie Messina started getting to the basket at will, and was a giant spark plug for her team throughout the remainder of the night. The 2022 Groton School Captain finished the night with 23 points and was just starting to find her rhythm offensively. The Mavericks saw a balanced offensive attack in period two with seven different players scoring throughout the ten minute frame. At the end of the second period Messina struck again, this time netting a buzzer beater layup after going coast to coast in just under 5 seconds to finish the period off 19 apiece. The third period both teams tightened up defensively and really made the other team work for everything they got. Unlike the first two periods period three saw a big halt in scoring both ways, as five minutes into the period the score was just 4-3. As the game drew on the respect for both sides continued to rise and the defensive focus got tighter and tighter. Neither team was giving the other a clean look at the basket, and both teams were trying to figure out how to limit the other from getting anything easy. Messina would again get her team going, as she quickly scored a transition layup to retake the lead in the period, followed up on the next possession with a transition three putting the Swish up 8-4 in the third. The three point shot became contagious as on the following possession [player_tooltip player_id="183947" first="Olivia" last="Gourdine"] (19pts on the night) knocked down a three of her own pushing the lead up to 11-6 with just under three minutes in the period. Back to Back offensive rebound put backs by Klemm and Quinn brought the score to 11-10 before Gourdine scored again in transition for the Swish who held on to win the third period 13-12. Despite the scoreboards clearing every period both teams were aware that the second and third periods of scoring had been separated but just 1 point and caused both teams to come out swinging in the remaining two periods. [player_tooltip player_id="183839" first="Avery" last="Burns"] started to heat up early in this period getting to the basket and finishing or getting to the foul line and connecting on some early baskets as she lead her team to a 7-4 lead about half way through the period.  Messina followed up the Burns run with a big top of the key three herself extending the Swish lead to 10-4 before the Mavs were forced into taking another timeout. Following the timeout Mavericks Senior [player_tooltip player_id="183827" first="Lauren" last="Beach"] turned it up, netting six straight points while her teammate [player_tooltip player_id="183915" first="Olivia" last="Quinn"] found her rhythm as well, finishing the period with ten points herself. Mavericks finished the fourth period on a 16-2 run finishing the quarter up 20-12. The final period was as to be expected in a heavy weight matchup, as the Swish would not go down without a fight. With the second and third quarters virtually even, and the Mavs taking a slight edge in the fourth the Swish came out in the fifth and final period with something to prove. Gourdine got to the basket early displaying her ability to both finish in side as well as connect from deep, while Burns again showed off her NBA range connecting once again from well behind the arch. Both teams went punch for punch for a large part of the fifth and final period fighting each other for the lead of the frame. [player_tooltip player_id="183978" first="Dani" last="Adams"], an unsung hero of the first four frames, started to connect on both her jumpers and post finishes inside to end the period with eight of her team high 21 points on the night. Gourdine nets yet another three for the Swish while Messina adds a couple of drive and scores her self to finish out the frame giving their team a 28-22 win of the last period of the night. Final Stats: Swish: Burns 28 points Messina 23 points Gourdine 19 points Mavericks Adams 21 points 15 Rebounds Quinn 20 points 10 Rebounds Beach 18 points 8 Rebounds Klemm 10 points 11 Rebounds 7 Assists