Section: Sports
Jan. 15, 2007

Shauna Staveley
FITCHBURG -- Anna Maria coach Kevin Grutchfield recently said that Fitchburg State is the "best Division III basketball team in New England."

Judging by the Falcons' recent production, he could be right.

The 12-1 Falcons have steamrolled through their opponents. The most recent victim was Division III powerhouse Salem State College on Saturday, 78-58.

The Falcons have the inside-out offensive weapons to make defenses second guess their strategies. They force 27 turnovers a game, a plus-nine turnover margin, with their merciless full-court press.

While breaking the program record for the best start to a season and the longest winning streak, Fitchburg State has proven they are something special.

"We have a lunch pail. You go to work, you bring your lunch pail, check in, do your job and then you're done," said sophomore forward and North Middlesex Regional graduate Steph Payette.

Fitchburg's State's only loss was the season opener, a 65-53 defeat at the hands of Mount Holyoke. The Falcons have been incredibly strong since, winning by double-digits all but three times.

"Our first game against Mount Holyoke, within nine minutes to go in the half, we only had four points," coach Walter Paschal said. "I was like, 'this is going to be long.' Then we ended the half with 32 points, so we went on a streak. Since then we've just played real solid basketball."

Part of the reason why they are playing solid basketball is their sparkplug guard D'yana Delpero. The senior is averaging 18.3 points per game, shooting 44 percent from the field and playing almost the entirety of every game with 31.3 minutes per. Most importantly, though, is her 38 percent 3-point shooting, as she's hit 40 out of 105 on the season -- by far the most on the team.

She circles the arc like a vulture waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger on a trey. Delpero has such a quick release that if defenses can't recover immediately, particularly from the multitude of picks her team sets for her, they will most likely pay the price.

Salem State saw that firsthand on Saturday, witnessing a 28 point effort by Delpero on 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point range.

"We just run a lot of plays where I get picked down low, and I just try to run off the picks as hard as I can because people are basically in my shirt and I can't get open. But they set awesome screens for me and help me out," Delpero said.

Delpero scored point No. 1,000 back on Nov. 28 against Nichols College, while graduate student Jen Fontaine reached the same plateau on Saturday against Salem State. Fontaine has an extra year of eligibility due to a season-ending injury to her knee last year.

"It was kind of surreal, I guess, because it's my fifth year and I've been averaging about seven points a game, which is fine because we're winning," said Fontaine. "I wasn't really thinking about it, I was more focused on Salem, which (the win) was amazing."

Perhaps the biggest factor behind the Falcons' success is their hounding defense. The full-court press often creates half-court traps or flat-out steals that fluster opponents. Delpero had seven steals against Salem State, while Fontaine and forward Merry Donovan lead the team with 41 and 40 steals, respectively.

By preventing the other team from getting into any kind of offensive flow, the Falcons' defense is the catalyst of spirit-crushing scoring runs which may explain why they have won games in such impressive fashion.

"Communication is a big thing," Fontaine said about the press. "Letting other people know when people are flashing, whatever. Just talking. We're quick, and we're not that big but we're really strong and fast so that really works to our advantage."

Offensive discipline is another facet of Fitchburg State's weaponry. The team's picks and cuts are precise, the entire team has fantastic floor vision and they all know how to dish to teammates at the perfect time. Freshman guard Krystle O'Brien leads the team in assists with 36.

"We have plays we run through every day consistently," said Delpero. "We're a fast, hard-working team. We've got the quick first step and back-door cuts and for the team we have the coach knows how to run it."

Of course, teams can be tremendously talented but not successful due to a lack of team chemistry. Fortunately for the Falcons, they have that in abundance.

"We're all friends on and off the court, so I think that helps," junior Diana Doyle said. "We communicate better than any other team I've been on since I've been here."

Fitchburg State has not taken this team for granted. Delpero was quick to show appreciation for the other athletic teams showing support. She specifically mentioned the men's hockey team's presence in the stands.

"It's exciting for the kids," coach Paschal said.

The Falcons have all the tools necessary to accomplish great things, but Pascal is sticking to the attitude that has carried them this far.

"To be honest with you, we haven't mentioned it once," said Paschal. "We take it one game at a time and we just play hard."

Section: Sports
Jan. 05, 2007
 

 Shauna Staveley
FITCHBURG -- A 79-38 blowout loss to Fitchburg State College on Thursday, while coaching a 2-5 team.

That's not the type of success that Anna Maria coach Kevin Grutchfield is used to.

Grutchfield once sported a 95-19 record while coaching varsity girls' basketball at Lunenburg High School, leading the team to four out of five league championships and a district championship in 2003.

"I think my run in Lunenburg was great, I had a great time, I had some great kids," said Grutchfield. "But in order for me to find out what kind of coach I was I really wanted to explore a higher level."

His experience at Lunenburg was a far cry from having to reconstruct a Division III college basketball team. It's even more difficult to make that adjustment when Grutchfield was hired only a month before the season started, giving him no opportunity to recruit new talent.

"I knew Anna Maria was going to be a rebuilding project, though I had no idea it was going to be this much of a rebuilding project. The athletic director and administration have been very supportive. They know that we're going to fix them up this year, go out and try to recruit like 10 to 15 kids, and turn this thing around. It's going to be a challenge, though."

The game got ugly early on, as Fitchburg State went on an 18-2 run early, due to intense full-court pressure by the Falcons, as well as sloppy ball-handling by Anna Maria.
Grutchfield, pacing the side of the court, called a timeout to stop the momentum from landsliding further. He tried to get his team to focus, even yelling at one point.

That didn't help Anna Maria much, as Fitchburg State continued to run up the score with red-hot outside shooting and superior quickness.

Instead of becoming overwhelmingly frustrated, as many coaches might have, Grutchfield calmed down. He remained supportive, often clapping his hands while shouting out encouragement. His coaching didn't stop just because his team was severely struggling.

"I want to teach them how to play good, sold half-court man-to-man defense, teach them how to press, teach them about conditioning and how to take good care of their bodies. I've only been on the job two months and I'm trying to change the culture of losing, and it's kind of an uphill climb, but we'll make some strides," Grutchfield said.

Grutchfield, who currently lives in Fitchburg, understood before the game what type of team he was facing in Fitchburg State College. Still, he made some solid adjustments at halftime for Anna Maria, such as opening up the floor offensively in order to get more touches for his star player and co-captain Meghan Depatsy.

"Fitchburg's got a great team," said Grutchfield. "They're very well-coached, they're very deep, athletic, strong, they're one of the best teams in New England I think for Division III, so I give them all the respect in the world."

Having been raised by the late Doug Grutchfield, who had the second most wins all-time in Massachusetts with 588 at Fitchburg High School, he certainly learned how to not only win with class, but to lose with it.

"You learn a lot from your elders, I'm the youngest, I learned a ton from my dad," said Kevin Grutchfield. "When I was little I went to his practices, went to all of his games. Being the youngest I kept my mouth shut, you learn and you listen. So that was convenient. Then playing in college and learning from the coaches I had in college. I never learned anything by talking, and that's a lesson I try to live by."