Mt. Blue’s Jocelyn Daggett (14) and Rebecca Harmon (12) try to stop Leavitt’s Taylor White from going to the basket in a basketball game in Turner on Friday. (Tony Blasi/Sun Journal)
TURNER — The rattled Mt. Blue Cougars regained their composure and found their way back to the free-throw line in the last six minutes of a girls’ basketball game Friday night.
The charity stripe is where the Cougars (3-9) did the most damage against Leavitt (6-6) in a matchup that featured little offense. Leavitt coach Dave Gerrish’s swarming Hornets saw to that.
But the Cougars capitalized on turnovers and made key foul shots down the stretch to shelve an aggressive Leavitt team, 27-23.
Dozens of shots never found their mark from both teams that battered each other underneath most of the night. By halftime, the Hornets led 14-9.
“I think that had a little bit to do with the defense,” Leavitt coach Dave Gerrish said. “I think both teams defended well both times down. Both teams were able to transition back and defend and that’s kind how the game went — back and forth.
“Our five-on-five versus your five-on-five. We’ll see who does better.
“We rebounded well. We didn’t take care of the ball. The last six or seven minutes, they got some turnovers. Unfortunately, that put them ahead. I think the key to the game is they took care of ball than we did at the end.”
After getting knocked around by Leavitt’s rough-and-ready defense, the Cougars stood their ground and started to chip away at the Hornets’ 18-13 in the fourth quarter.
“I have to tip my hat to Dave (Gerrish),” Mt. Blue coach Fred Conlogue said. “He had a good game plan. Definitely disrupted our flow on offense.
“I knew if we could start hitting some shots — we had 14 in the fourth quarter — hopefully we could overcome it. It took us a long time. There was about six minutes left in the game before you could feel us chipping away.
“Once we got the lead, I think our composure picked up and we took care of the basketball a little bit. We hit some foul shots. I thought Jocelyn Daggett hit some key foul shots.”
With 6:01 left, Mt. Blue started taking the ball to the net and that meant trips to the charity stripe. That’s when the Daggett sisters became regulars at the free-throw line.
Jacelyn Daggett (5 points) stepped to the free-throw line and sank both shots and leaving the Hornets with a 21-18 lead. Sophomore captain Lexi Mittelstadt (game-high 12 points) launched a 3-pointer 30 seconds later to tie the game.
With 2:43 left, Rebecca Harmon dropped in the two free-throws to give the Cougars a 23-21 lead — their first of the night.
Leavitt’s Rebecca Fogg’s (6 points) drive to the hoop tied the game at 23-23 with 1:42 remaining.
But Jacelyn and Jocelyn Daggett (4 points) teamed up at the foul line and each dropped in a pair shots to put the game out of Leavitt’s reach.
Mt. Blue Lexi Mittelstadt (24) and Sierra Fay (23) double team Leavitt’s Allison Noniewicz (3) in a basketball game in Turner on Friday.
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