By Jim Clark
FITCHBURG -- Many area basketball fans were eagerly awaiting Thursday night's matchup between Fitchburg and Leominster at the Academy Street Gym. Both teams were off to solid starts, and a close battle was expected.
But the host Red Raiders changed those ideas early, ripping off 13 straight points and using their trademark tough defense to suffocate the Blue Devils at times. The result was a 69-46 win for Fitchburg that was never really in doubt.
"I had to be pleased, no question about it," said Fitchburg coach Tony Alario. Wwe got a good effort from all our people, and the bench players played well."
Junior Shelly Richard tossed in a game-high 24 points and senior Sara Thomas added 20 for the Raiders (7-2). More important were the 18 turnovers the Raiders forced in the first half. As the Devils had a hard time getting good looks at the basket, and were coming up short whenever they did.
"The first two minutes we did exactly what we wanted to do, but we didn't make any shots," said Leominster coach Chris Young. "Then we came completely dismantled."
Those first two mnutes saw Leominster (5-2) with its only lead of the night as Brandy Trice scored the games's opening bucket. But while she would lead LHS with 16 points, she took only two shots in the first half and had just that one hoop.
Thomas started the Fitchburg run with a jumper , ended it with a fast break layup, and added a pair of free throws in between. Richard also nailed a long jumper while Alicia Gauvin (10 points) and Taryn Paul had hoops to give FHS a 13-2 lead with 10:59 left in the half.
It never got much better for the Blue Devils, as Fitchburg used its press effectively and worked well on offense. Richard and Thomas each had 14 points at the break and the Raiders rolled into intermission, 37-17.
"I scouted them and the two things they were weak on, were the baseline weak side, and cutting through the middle," Alario said.
Fitchburg used that to counter Leominster's height advantage with Trice (15 rebounds) and Stacy Cline (8 points, 13 boards).
"That's their win, completely, not our loss," Young said of the Red Raiders.