MIAA D2 State Championship: Tigers Unleashed

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The #3 Oliver Ames Tigers pulled off the upset against #1 Norwood last Saturday 53-48 in the MIAA D2 Championship. Norwood’s big 3 of Meghan Olbrys, [player_tooltip player_id="183937" first="Erin" last="Reen"], and [player_tooltip player_id="298836" first="Tricia" last="Wladkowski"] is a tall glass of water for any team in Massachusetts, but Oliver Ames had the size and skill to match the firepower. Oliver Ames led at the end of each quarter, but Norwood kept it close, thanks to 35 combined points from Reen and Olbrys. Oliver Ames made clutch plays at the end and hit big free throws to close out Norwood and claim the title. </span> &nbsp; <strong>Player of the Game:</strong> <strong><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-404337" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2022/03/DFD181B1-51FA-4C51-B686-4B1FAF0A9BCB-scaled-crop-1920x1261-1648152765-300x197.jpeg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /> </strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="269263" first="Jasmyn" last="Cooper"] | 6’1’’ | SF | ’24</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Cooper was lights out all postseason and continued to be the clear-cut best player on the court in the Championship. You got to see Cooper show her versatility, and she was the point-forward for Oliver Ames. As usual, she was rebounding and defending well, but her effective playmaking and orchestrating the offense was a side of her game I was not expecting to witness. With [player_tooltip player_id="183929" first="Megan" last="Olbrys"] picking her up at halfcourt, Cooper did not back down from the challenge and attacked the defense consistently. She finished with a game-high 22 points, and after this Tournament run and performance on Massachusetts’ biggest stage, Cooper is trending towards top 5-10 territory in her class. Not many players with her size and ability can impact the game in every way imaginable on the basketball court. </span> &nbsp; <strong>Oliver Ames Standouts: </strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="300858" first="Sarah" last="Hilliard"] | 6’0’’ | SF/PF | ’24</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Hilliard is another Tiger who has had a big tournament, and she gave Norwood a lot of problems on Saturday. The combo forward did work inside and out, finishing with 15 points. Hilliard hit a three and got to the foul line multiple times. The way Hilliard gets up and down the floor is impressive too. Her rim running in transition draws so much attention that she can open up the floor and her teammates regardless if she receives the ball or not. </span> &nbsp; <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="403073" first="Anna" last="Murphy"] | 5’9’’| PF| ’22</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Murphy scored 12 points against Norwood and was clutch in the 4th quarter. Scoring was hard to come by for Oliver Ames, with only 3 players scoring more than two points, so the Tigers needed someone to produce offensively against the pesky Norwood defense down the stretch. Murphy hit a big field goal for Oliver Ames and followed that up with 2 huge free throws to close the deal for the team.</span>