With their season on the line and their 1,000-point scorer on the bench for most of the second half with four fouls, the Durfee Hilltoppers came together and earned a postseason berth with a 61-53 girls' basketball victory over visiting New Bedford on Friday.
FALL RIVER - With their season on the line and their 1,000-point scorer on the bench for most of the second half with four fouls, the Durfee Hilltoppers came together and earned a postseason berth with a 61-53 girls' basketball victory over visiting New Bedford on Friday.
Freshman Nicole Parks scored 15 of her game-high 22 points in the second half as the Hilltoppers pulled out the Big 3 victory. With the win, the Toppers (8-10) qualified for the state tournament because they finished in a three-way tie in league play with a 2-2 mark.
"I'm so happy for them," said Durfee coach Brendan Kelly of his team. "Our effort was great tonight. We won a lot of hustle points."
Shaelyn Carreiro, who collected her 1,000th career point in a win over Somerset Berkley on Tuesday, scored 16 first-half points, but also had three fouls before halftime. She picked up her fourth with 5:23 left in the third quarter and went to the bench until the 3:54 mark of the fourth quarter.
The Toppers led 32-23 at the break and were up 10 when Carreiro went to the bench, but the Callahans, Abby and Catherine, both connected on 3-pointers and Parks scored four points in the final 1:27 as Durfee held a 48-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
"Abby Callahan played the best game of her career," Kelly said. "She played like a four-year starter. Catherine Callahan, Liz Rodriguez (7 points) Atiya Rivera all played so well. Nicole, a 14-year-old freshman, had some big-girl points. She did such a great job for us. She was great down the stretch."
After Parks opened the fourth quarter with a basket to give Durfee its biggest lead at 16 points, New Bedford went on an 11-2 run to make it 52-45 with 3:57 to go. Parks stopped the bleeding with a basket with 3:41 left. She then scored Durfee's final seven points, including a 3-pointer with 1:22 left after the Whalers got within five.
Carreiro finished with 18 points.
Janice Leao, New Bedford's junior center, led the Whalers with 19 points. Chiron Rose, held to two points in the first half, finished with 12.