RallyNorth.net

All out of Magic: Cinderella Royals bow out in Division 4 title game

Monday, March, 09 By Alan Siegel
Staff writer

BOSTON – The Georgetown express chugged into North Station yesterday at full speed. Unfortunately for the Royals, they didn’t quite have enough power to keep the wheels rolling.

Millis prevailed 60-43 in the Division 4 state championship game at TD Banknorth Garden. Molly Breen scored 28 points for the Mohawks, who limited Bates College-bound Georgetown center Taryn O’Connell to 12 points.  

“It was just their time,” Georgetown senior forward Haley Gisonno said.

O’Connell, who had averaged 29 points over her first four postseason games, spent the afternoon trying to free herself from double-teams. She made only one field goal after sinking two 3-pointers early in the first quarter.  

“We tried to turn the pressure up,” Millis coach Dave Fallon said. “I thought she had to work for her points.”

Fallon’s instructions for stopping O’Connell were pretty simple.

“Find her,” he told his players. “You have to find her.”

And they did.

“I told the kids that she’s their best player inside and outside,” Fallon said. “She can shoot. She does everything.”

The Royals, who defeated the No. 1, 2, 3, and 6 teams in the Division 4 North bracket to get to the Garden, did hang around. Midway through the third quarter, Shannon Hartford, Kelli O’Brien and Taryn O’Connell scored on successive possessions to cut what had been a 40-29 Mohawks lead to a slim 40-35 cushion.

Then Breen took over. The 5-foot-11 junior forward scored the game’s next eight points to push the lead to 48-35 at the end of the quarter. The Royals, who got a team-high 13 points from Gisonno, never recovered.

Georgetown’s “Blue Crew” fans represented themselves well, packing the center loge section at the Garden. O’Connell fought back tears afterward, but she was proud to have played in the 18,000-seat arena.

When O’Connell took her first look at the parquet floor, she was immediately taken aback.

“It’s huge!” she said.

While it wasn’t the way she wanted to go out, O’Connell admitted that playing on the Celtics’ home court was something she’ll remember for the rest of her life.

“If you’re going to have a last game,” said O’Connell, who will graduate as the program’s leading scorer and rebounder, “Why not have it at the Garden?”