WORCESTER – The spectators at the Daniels Gymnasium at Worcester Academy fell silent when the Hilltoppers talented point guard, junior Oluchi Okananwa, hit the deck.
Worcester Academy was clinging to a slim 50-48 in their season opener with a little over six-and-a-half minutes to go in the game when Okananwa stole the ball from Dexter Southfield forward Kayana Armbrister. Okananwa led a fastbreak that saw her push the ball coast-to-coast. As she drove to the hoop and launched herself to the rim, she was fouled by Dexter’s Clarise Borges.
Okananwa seemed to land awkwardly. After she took a few steps along the right baseline, Okananwa bent over and grabbed her right calf. She was in a lot of pain as
her leg cramped severely. After a few attempts to walk on it, she collapsed to the floor. Eventually, the Hilltoppers best offensive facilitator had to be helped off the court.
In the meantime, Autumn Perry stepped to the line to shoot Okananwa’s free throws for her. The gym was still very silent. She calmly made them both to extend the lead. The Hilltoppers would never relinquish it. Worcester then went on a 10-2 run over the next five minutes to put the game away.
“I had a hundred percent trust in her,” Okananwa said about Perry after the game. “She’s definitely a teammate I know I can definitely rely on. When I knew she was going to be shooting the free throws for me, there was no doubt in my mind that she was going to make them.”
Autumn Perry came in and hit those two big free throws when Oluchi went down,” Worcester head coach Sherry Levin said following the game. “That was huge. That was huge for us. I give them all the credit. They stayed with it and they were able to get a W.”
Worcester forward Lola Lesmond said, when Okananwa went out, the team was determined to “keep playing together. We can definitely rely on whoever is subbing for Oluchi. We trust [Perry] and we were gonna give effort in whatever we were doing.”
Okananwa was able to return to the court briefly before leaving again with a little over a minute left when her leg cramped again, but the Hilltoppers were able to hold off a final Dexter push for the 62-54 season opener.
Lesmond led the Hilltoppers with 22 points, including four three-point field goals, while Okananwa finished with 15 points. Worcester’s Alexandra Eldredge also had a solid game with 13 points.
“I would say Lola really stood out,” Levin said. “I would say Cam Rust did a heck-of-a-job on defense. Oluchi was running the show. When she did we were breaking out and getting those layups and making defensive stops … Alexandra Eldredge had some big shots.”
With only nine practices under their belts and one returning player from last season with sophomore Camron Rust, the Hilltoppers struggled to generate any offense as they fell behind 6-0 early. In fact, they did not score their first points until four minutes and forty-seven seconds into the game when Lesmond hit two free throws at 5:13 in the first quarter.
“When we started in the beginning of the game, [the problem] was clearly nerves,” Levin said. We haven’t played in 18 months a real game and this team is basically all new players so we had nerves. And we got out of that. I’ve said many times you don’t win the game in the first few minutes. It takes 32 minutes … and they did that. It’s a hot gym. The girls are wearing masks. My bench is very thin as you saw, so I give those girls all the credit in the world.”
After Levin called timeout midway through the first, the Hilltoppers picked up their defensive pressure and energy on defense that led to several Dexter turnovers and numerous fastbreak chances.
“Coach Levin told us to pick it up a notch,” Okananwa said.
The increased intensity on defense helped Worcester take a 33-25 lead at the half, but they came out in the third quarter struggling to regain the energy they displayed in the second quarter to get the lead. Worcester let a 39-32 lead slip away midway through the third when Dexter went on a 16-8 run to end the third quarter, capped off by a buzzer beater by Dexter forward Brynn Bryant. The Hilltoppers were now trailing 48-47.
Lesmond said their issues at the start of the game and in the third quarter was about energy. “We didn’t come out with enough energy on defense,” she said. “We were playing individually instead of together, but we figured things out.”
Okananwa said the key to turning their defensive play around in the game “was effort and wanting to win the game. And just constantly playing in a state of mind like we’re down ten.”
Eldrege was able to get Worcester back on track with a three-pointer to start the fourth quarter to set up Perry’s dramatic free throws. Worcester outscored Dexter 17-6 to clinch their first victory of the season. Their next game will be at Rivers School in Weston on Dec. 3 at 5 p.m.
Levin said she expects better execution on shots and communication on the floor come Friday. “It’s a work in progress,” she said. “We don’t want to peak until March. It’s one game at a time. This game is over. Oh my God, I sound like Bill Belichick, but it’s true … We’ll talk about this one and then we will focus on the next one, which will be another tough game … We’re a work in progress and we won’t be finished until March.”
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