Spartans Player Robinson Scores 1,000th Career Point

It was the Robinson and Battle show Tuesday night at Annandale high school, as West Springfield's defense kept the Atoms in check for a 67-44 victory.

Spartans forward Logan Battle and center Nora Osei denied all access to the post for most of the first quarter, and April Robinson led the offense on an 8-0 run. After gaining its composure, Annandale looked like they were going to make it a close contest, scoring six unanswered to come within two, but by the end of the first they were again down by eight and would never overcome the deficit.

In the second quarter the Spartans outscored Annandale 20-8, and Robinson and Battle combined to score 18 points. Robinson also set a milestone, becoming only the second female in West Springfield history to score 1,000 points in her career. The other is Kara Lawson of the Connecticut Sun. The milestone was something that Robinson knew about, but never gave too much thought.

"We came out with the mindset of playing good defense and letting our offense set," Robinson said.

Robinson works out every day with her father, who nicknamed her Shorty, and worked really hard over the off-season to improve on defense, something she's glad she did and says is the key to repeating as Patriot District champions.

"We [also] have to play hard and have the heart and desire to win," she added

Robinson and Battle finished with 21 and 20 respectively. Nora Osei had 10 points.

In the second half, the Spartans seemed to slow things down a bit, which could have been attributed to their lead. The Atoms outscored West Springfield in the fourth quarter but the damage was already done.

"West Springfield does a lot of switching, which we worked on, but we didn't react very well," said Annandale coach Coach Patrick Hughes. "We got better as the game went on, but we traded baskets too much with them. Once a team gets a lead like that, you can't do that."

Hughes is mindful that if they win their first tournament game next week, they'll have to face West Springfield again.

"We got time to work on it and we will," he added.

Jackie Beathea led the Atoms in scoring with 14 points. Hailey Brown had 10.