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Sports

Natick Pulls Away Late Against Marauders Girls Hoops

Dedham lost on Senior Night to Natick 52-41 on Friday.

On Senior Night in Dedham, the Natick Red and Blue dropped the Marauders 52-41 to improve to 13-4 on the season.

 The Marauders, who said good-bye and thanks to four seniors – Staci Hurst, Rachel Collins, Mary Kate Sullivan and Kim Whalen – played with a lot of passion and heart Friday night against the bigger and more talented Natick team.

 “When we play with passion, and for 32 minutes, you can play with anyone,” said Dedham coach Don Savi after the loss-which dropped his girls record to 5-9.

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was able to respond to an early 5-0 Natick lead, when guard Rachel Collins was able to score on a lay-up plus get to the line on consecutive trips for four free throws, to cut Natick’s lead to 7-6.

The Marauders were aggressive in the first quarter by taking the ball to the hole and breaking the press to force six first quarter fouls.

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Dedham took advantage of the early Natick foul trouble, to convert on eight first quarter free throws to carry a 14-13 lead after one.

Natick responded in the second by turning to their post players, Sarah Marcinkiewicz, Erica Foley, and Bridget Furdon to pick up some easy baskets and dominate the boards with their size advantage.

Marcinkiewicz picked up an easy bucket underneath to make it 20-19 Natick, after an acrobatic mid-court save by sophomore Taylor Flutie, who added a jumper from the wing to give the Red and Blue a 22-19 lead.

The Marauders responded by continuing to get to the line for four more of their 13 first-half free throws plus an added trey in the corner by Whalen to tie the game at 26-26 all at the half.

 “We came out stale, a lot of not very good basketball in that first half for us,” said Natick coach Dan Hinnenkamp.

 The start of the second half was a different story for the Red and Blue as they scored seven points in the first 45 seconds to open up a 33-26 lead on the Marauders.

 Lexi Gifford opened up the scoring with a three-point play and Furdon added an easy put-back off a miss to go along with Marcinkiewicz’s easy lay-up.

 “I thought the [seven] points in the first 45 seconds, really got them going,” added Hinnenkamp.

Dedhm’s Ellen Masalsky added a beautiful spinning lay-up to cut the lead to 38-35, but the third quarter belonged to Natick as they outscored Dedham 19-6.

 The Marauders added an impressive run of their own in the fourth thanks, to a full court press that resulted in a Collins trey that cut the lead to 45-39 with 3:11 left in the game.

 But Natick's Katy Biagi hit a 3-pointer from the wing to put the game out of reach at 48-41.

 Collins finished with 11 points while Natick’s Marcinkiewicz finished with a game high 16 points.

 “I thought our girl’s did a nice job, they played really well. They’re a great team.” said Savi.

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