Ware leads Assabet girls basketball team to hot start
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Marlborough - The train that is the Assabet Valley girls basketball team continues to chug along.

The Aztecs entered play this week with a 9-2 overall record, which includes a 6-0 mark in the Colonial Athletic League (CAL). Assabet sits atop the CAL thanks to a 47-39 win over previously undefeated rival Monty Tech Jan. 18.

The Aztecs are led by senior Samantha Ware, a 5-foot-9 guard who is averaging 14 points and nine rebounds a game.

"Samantha is just a dominating, dominating player," fourth-year Assabet coach Frank Fereer said. "She's one of the best players in Central Mass., in any division. I think, and I know I'm biased, she's the best player around in Division 3."

Fereer said Ware's combination of speed and quickness has been unmatched by any team the Aztecs have played.

"She's got the quickest first step to the basket of any player I've ever coached, and I've been coaching for 25 years," Fereer said. "The best thing about her, the thing that the Division 3 college coaches in the area should love and be all over, is that she's so raw. She hasn't played AAU basketball like so many other players have by the time they're a senior. Samantha's best basketball is in front of her."

Fereer said so far Clark University and Anna Maria College have expressed an interest in Ware, who dominated the Aztecs' showdown with Monty Tech by scoring 27 points - 14 in the second quarter - and grabbing nine rebounds and five steals.

Complementing Ware in the starting lineup are Samantha Kerrigan, Brittany Hisman, Lauren Ente and Kelly Drohan. Hisman, Ente and Drohan are seniors, and Kerrigan is a junior.

Coming off the bench as part of Fereer's nine-player rotation are junior Kaila Harpin, freshman Vanessa Joubert, junior Jackie Perry and senior Marcia McCoy.

Rounding out the roster are juniors Casey Tailacq and Kate Shepherd and sophomore Jess Purdy.

"It's really a good mix," Fereer said. "Kerrigan is a pure shooter who gives us another option from the perimeter when teams doubleand triple-team Ware. She's 5-foot-7 and that enables her to shoot over a lot of defenders. Hisman is only 5-4, but she serves as our back line of defense and she's all over the court all the time. She never stops running."

Fereer said Joubert, while only a freshman, has been able to contribute right away because of the amount of basketball she has already played.

"Vanessa's been playing for years," the coach said. "She's been able to step right in. She has a good knowledge of the game and is always moving on offense. She's going to develop into quite a player as she gets older and gets still more experience."

The Aztecs are within one win of qualifying for the Central Mass. Division 3 Tournament for the third year in a row. Last year Assabet finished the season 14-7, and the year before they were 13-8. The Aztecs missed qualifying for the postseason by one game in Fereer's first year at the helm.