The Blue Devils took control of a 20-20 halftime game Thursday night at Curry Hicks Cage.
AMHERST - Quantity and quality.
Drury defeated Wahconah Regional for the third time this season, including the time it mattered most - in the tournament.
The Blue Devils pulled away to a 51-37 win in a Western Massachusetts Division II high school girls basketball semifinal at Curry Hicks Cage Thursday night.
A 51-37 win propelled the top-seeded Blue Devils into Saturday's sectional final at Curry Hicks Cage.
No. 1 Drury (17-3) will face No. 7 Hoosac Valley (18-5) in the final, Saturday at 2:15 p.m. at Curry Hicks Cage. Hoosac was a 57-37 winner over Mahar Regional in the opener of the semifinal doubleheader.
"We got the one that really counted,'' Drury coach John Franzoni said. "We're not satisfied being the No. 1 seed. Our goal was to come in here and win this thing.''
No. 4 Wahconah finished its season at 12-10.
The teams were tied 20-20 at halftime, before Drury broke to a 35-28 edge getting into the fourth. Wahconah never got closer.
"We know that first shots don't win games, second shots do . . . so once we kept Wahconah off the glass, things got better,'' Franzoni said. "Half of their points in the first half came off second shots.''
Danielle Racette led Drury with 15 points, and teammate Ali Tatro added 14.
"We started going stronger to the basket,'' Racette said of the second half. "Then they started to sag off a little and we got open shots. And then we were able to get it going in transition.''
Shannon Garvey added seven of her nine points in the fourth quarter before she left with a minor, right leg injury with 2:55 left.
''They didn't let me get open in the first half, but it really helped that we set some picks in the fourth,'' Garvey said.
Shannon Lussier led Wahconah with 12 points, and teammate Gabby Lavinio added 11.
Each team was searching for its fifth sectional title. Wahconah last won in 2011, while Drury claimed the 2001 crowd.
Wahconah sought its third trip to final in five years.
