Against the backdrop of a division-one NCAA arena, the South Hadley Tigers girls basketball team took the Belchertown Orioles to school, in a literal and figurative sense.
Fresh off of being named to the MassLive Super Seven list, junior Cara Dean was on fire in the Tigers’ first contest of the new season. Eighteen points saw her take home the Pioneer Valley Tip-Off’s Player Of The Game honors, and deservedly so. The Tigers’ offense commanded the first half, and much of that came off of Dean’s drives into the paint.
“She’s the real deal,” said Tigers head coach Paul Dubuc. “She’s a great player. That’s a quiet eighteen.”
Seven routine lay-ups, in addition to one of each a three-pointer and a free-throw, was quiet for Dean. Much of the offensive playmaking, however, came from junior Kate Phillips, whose stellar rebounding ability helped drive the Tigers to success even further. Pair that with eleven points for herself, and you’ve got quite the dynamic duo to look out for this year.
With that said, the game was a true team win, as every player saw the court, and seven of the nine rostered players registered at least one point.
“We played everybody,” Dubuc mentioned. “Everybody got good looks, everybody got good minutes.”
The Tigers will now see a week of relative downtime. They’ll have to wait until Friday, December 19th’s bout with the Pittsfield Generals to grace the court again.
