DARTMOUTH — Hailey Martins had the biggest basket of her high school career on Friday night.
With Dartmouth clinging to a five-point lead with less than two minutes to play, Martins corralled an offensive rebound, scored on the putback and completed the three-point play with a free throw.
“It felt really big for me,” said Martins. “I’m just a rebounder on our team so to have a big role, it means so much. Rebounding is my place on the team and to get points out of it was enjoyable for me.”
As Dartmouth’s lone senior, the team honored Martins before the game for Senior Night and then celebrated the program’s first-ever Southeast Conference title following a 49-39 victory over Bridgewater-Raynham, ending the Trojans’ decade of dominance.
“I’ve never won an SEC championship in any sport so it’s a big honor,” said Martins, who also plays soccer and runs spring track at Dartmouth. “I love my teammates so it means a lot to all of us.”
Dartmouth head coach Brian Jalbert added, “It feels good. It’s a great feeling. We had this as one of our goals to start the season. We weren’t sure if it was a lofty goal or not, but we’re thrilled to have it. It’s very satisfying.”
Bridgewater-Raynham was the gold standard for girls basketball in the Southeast Conference and previously in the Old Colony League for the past decade, winning 10 straight titles, including eight under head coach Cheryl Seavey. That streak ended Friday night with Dartmouth wrapping up the regular season sweep and a perfect 8-0 record in the SEC.
“They’ve been great for 10 years and we just happened to catch them this year,” Jalbert said. “They set the standard of 10 years of excellence. We hope to meet it. Cheryl (Seavey) has done such a great job with them and I’ve learned so much from her. I can only hope that we can somehow match what they did over these last 10 years.”
It was the first conference title for Dartmouth since 2013-14 when the team shared an OCL crown with B-R in Jeff Hoyle’s final season.
“If we couldn’t win the championship, I’m happy that Brian and his kids could,” Seavey said. “They’ve worked extremely hard and deserve it.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
Dartmouth scored the game’s first 11 points and took an 11-3 lead into the second quarter. Bridgewater-Raynham closed the gap to three (15-12), but Dartmouth went on an 8-2 run in the final two minutes to head into halftime out front 23-14. On the run, freshman Lindsey Barber sank a 3-pointer from the right corner, junior Remy Barber converted a three-point play and Martins had a key putback.
“I’m proud of every single one of our players,” Jalbert said. “They did a great job.”
“You can’t spot a team like Dartmouth (with) an 11-point lead to start and make the hill harder to climb,” Seavey said. “But I’m incredibly proud of my team for their fight — it was a tournament atmosphere that will help both teams. We’ll learn from this and get ready for our next game.”
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Dartmouth led by as much as 10 in the third quarter, but Bridgewater-Raynham cut the lead down to three a few times and only trailed by five when Martins hit her clutch three-point play in the fourth.
“That was awesome,” Jalbert said. “Hailey is the greatest teammate ever. She doesn’t care if she scores. She cares if she gets rebounds and plays defense and wins the game. That’s the only thing she cares about. She’s an awesome kid. We’re going to miss her next year, but we’re going to enjoy the next few weeks with her.”
EVERYONE INVOLVED FOR DARTMOUTH
Junior Kat Cheesebro led Dartmouth with a game-high 20 points despite playing with an ankle injury.
“She injured her ankle this week,” Jalbert said. “She’s been playing on it and she’s been playing hard on it, but it’s hurting. Her leg could be falling off and she wouldn’t miss this game.”
With Cheesebro not 100%, others stepped up.
Sophomore Kaelyn Zuber had 10 points and seven rebounds. Martins finished with seven points and six rebounds. Off the bench, Lindsey Barber contributed seven points. Remy Barber and sophomore Lily Gangi helped provide strong defense against a B-R team that was averaging 50.3 points per game.
“We started playing much better when everyone started getting more involved,” Jalbert said. “We had a little rough stretch there where we were just looking for Kat. I’m very happy we got everybody involved.”
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WHAT IT MEANS
With the win, Dartmouth improved to 16-1 overall and 8-0 in the SEC. … The loss dropped Bridgewater-Raynham to 13-4 and 5-2 in the SEC.
Dartmouth 49, Bridgewater-Raynham 39
Bridgewater-Raynham
Libby Cronin 5, Brenna Woodbury 9, Reese Bartlett 15 (3), Camden Strandberg 6 (1), Ally Piecewicz 2, Kate Lambert 2.
Dartmouth
Kaelyn Zuber 10, Remy Barber 3, Kat Cheesebro 20 (2), Hailey Martins 7, Skylar Floyd 2, Lindsey Barber 7 (1).
Bridgewater-Raynham;3;11;13;12 — 39
Dartmouth;11;12;10;16 — 49
Read More:Dartmouth beats Bridgewater-Raynham for Southeast Conference title
2024-02-10 04:15:22
