| |  | | | |  | | MA’s Courtney Delaney (left) and Lexi Welch surround Mascoma’s Kayla Larocque during action on Feb. 4. The visiting Royals left Moultonborough with a 48-24 win. Jeff Lajoie. (click for larger version) |
February 11, 2013 MOULTONBOROUGH – With the postseason looming, the Moultonborough Academy girls' basketball team found itself faced with quite a challenge on Feb. 4.
Playing up against a Division III opponent, the host Panthers dropped a 48-24 decision to Mascoma Valley in a game MA hopes will pay dividends when it really matters next week.
"We play up for a reason," explained MA first-year coach Rachelle Smith. "That's to get better. It's a different mindset playing a team like that. Hopefully we can use what we learned about ourselves tonight for the rest of the season and the playoffs."
The visiting Royals (10-5) entered the night right in the middle of the D-III pack, but MA (8-6) played tough during a back and forth first quarter. Kaitlin Slippy put the Panthers on the board with a layup to cut an early deficit to 4-2, and sophomore Kelsey Coppinger added two buckets in the frame as Mascoma led just 10-8 after one.
"We hung around for most of that first half," admitted Smith.
Turnovers seemed to plague MA in the second period however, as the Royals began to slowly increase their lead. The visitors outscored the Panthers 12-4 in the second to take a 22-12 lead at intermission. MA turned the ball over 19 times in a choppy first half.
"The dynamics of the game seemed to slowly start to change after the first quarter," Smith said.
While the hometown fans hoped the Panthers would get out of the gates quickly in the third quarter, it was Mascoma that turned on the jets early on. The Royals opened the half on an 8-0 run, with six of those points coming from Catie Kondi to take a 30-12 lead with 3:53 to play.
"We lost a player in the second half due to illness so when something like that happens, you have to try and move things around," explained Smith. "We had some problems keeping up with (Mascoma) after that."
Jamie Mason finally put MA on the board with a free throw midway through the third, and Ronnie Diltz added a pair from the free throw line with 1:23 left to cut the lead to 33-15 entering the fourth.
Junior Rachel Duddy scored all seven of her points for the Panthers in the fourth quarter, including a three-pointer with 3:52 to play. Ally Lively added a pair of freebies but the Royals closed the game on an 11-2 run to pull away for the 48-24 victory.
"I was proud of the girls," Smith said. "We seemed to work hard and play tough even when we got behind. They stayed with it all the way into the fourth quarter."
Lively pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds to pace the Panthers, while Slippy, Coppinger and Kim Delaney all scored four points on the night.
MA will close out its regular season on Friday night, when the Panthers travel to Newmarket in what will likely have playoff implications for both teams. The first round of the 16-team Division IV tournament will begin on Feb. 19 at the home of the higher seed.
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