LISBON – It sure wasn’t pretty.
The first half of Wednesday’s Mountain Valley Conference girls basketball game between Lisbon and Monmouth saw both teams struggle mightily to make shots.
The Mustangs made just three of 27 attempts, putting up 14 points, but it was still six points better than the Greyhounds’ eight, with Lisbon hitting on four of 24 heaves.
The second half was better, as both squads made some shots in the Mustangs’ 43-30 victory, sending Monmouth to its two-week holiday break with a 4-2 record, while Lisbon fell to 0-4 and visits Mt. Abram on Friday.
“We kept trying to stay on them and not panicking and turning the ball over when they were guarding us,” said Monmouth’s Sidney Wilson, who had 13 points. “We knew that this game was important, having lost to Dirigo our last game. We didn’t want to go into our break on a losing streak.”
For Lisbon and coach Julie Wescott, this was another frustrating setback where her Greyhounds were in the game until Monmouth pulled away late, despite 28 turnovers.
“We are right there, just turnovers kill us. Sometimes we are really good defensively, and other times we are not and give up easy lay-ups. It is a constant craw-back for us,” said Wescott. “We lose focus for a second, get excited. Then we have defensive breakdowns. We are not getting stomped, so we need to protect the ball late in the game and make better decisions.”
Slow first half
It took over two minutes for the first points to be scored, with Lisbon’s Adrianna White putting home her own missed shot for a 2-0 Greyhound lead.
That was it in the first quarter for Lisbon, as Monmouth answered with a pair of free throws by Haley West, and scored its first field goal at the midway point of the frame as Kylie Kemp drove into paint and banked in a shot. The Mustangs led 6-2 after eight minutes, with Monmouth going two for 17 from the floor and Lisbon just one of 16.
The Greyhounds warmed up to open the second quarter, making three straight shots on a 6-0 run for an 8-6 lead. Again Lisbon went cold, missing five straight shots and finishing with 14 first-half turnovers.
Wilson hit a big 3-pointer for a 12-8 Monmouth edge, and a pair of free throws by Ashley Coulombe sent the Mustangs to the break with a 14-8 advantage.
“We told the kids if we make a couple of our easy shots like we normally do, we can blow this thing open, but it didn’t come easy tonight that’s for sure,” said Monmouth coach Scott Wing, whose squad made seven of eight from the free-throw line in the first half, 18 of 28 overall. “Lisbon plays an aggressive zone, and we knew that we would get fouled, so we had to make our foul shots.
“We did play very good defense, something I was happy about. We wanted to limit them to one shot per possession, and we didn’t give up a lot of offensive rebounds despite their height advantage.”
Again Lisbon started a quarter strong, getting treys from Mikayla Yanez and Mia Durgin, the latter drawing the Greyhounds within a point, 17-16, with 4:09 remaining in the quarter.
“Coach lit a fire under our butts, and we came out and did what we needed to do,” said Durgin.
Kemp fired her teammates up, grabbing an offensive board and scoring while getting fouled for a three-point play and a 20-16 Monmouth lead. A 7-2 run to end the quarter extended the Monmouth advantage to 27-18 through 24 minutes.
“We are so young, and it seems when one person falls apart that we all do,” said Durgin.
Monmouth stretched its lead to a game-high 14 points, 41-27, as West scored 11 of her game-high 14 points down the stretch, with Kemp finishing with eight points, 11 rebounds and three steals.
“Any time you go into a long break, you have to go in with a win, and considering we have played four games on the road and six games already in two weeks, this was a big win,” said Wing.
Durgin nailed three 3-pointers to lead Lisbon with nine points, while White finished with eight. White was a force on the boards, pulling down 16 rebounds, while Katelyn Fowler had 10 boards and three blocked shots.
Monmouth shot 21 percent (12 of 56), while Lisbon was 12 of 47.
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