LISBON — The Lisbon Greyhounds jumped out to a 12-point lead after one quarter and held off a late rally from Mountain Valley to edge the Falcons, 39-36, in girls’ high school basketball action.
The Falcons (10-6) never led, but tied the score with 20 seconds remaining on a Kierstyn Lyons trey. Lisbon retook the lead when Charlee Cox grabbed an offensive rebound and put back the shot for the lead.
The Falcons failed to convert the next time down the court and after a made free throw by Lisbon, Cox snagged her 14th rebound of the game to seal the victory for Lisbon.
“That girl, she’s probably sick of me telling her, ‘finish, finish, finish,’” Lisbon coach Julie Petrie said.
“Coach is always telling us to finish our shots. If you’re going to take a shot, make sure you finish, that’s our goal,” Cox said.
Lisbon came to play right from the opening whistle. Immediately the Greyhounds used the fast-paced tempo to jump out to an 8-0 lead less than five minutes into the frame.
“We talked in the locker room and came out with the fire we needed,” Cox said. “We came out with a lot of intensity.”
“They’re optimistic when they play. For them, it’s what is given to them,” Mountain Valley coach Ryan Casey said. “We wanted to push the tempo, and they responded.”
Lisbon’s defense posed problems for the Falcons early, forcing five first quarter turnovers by the Falcons.
“Tonight’s the first time I didn’t switch defenses in a long time,” Petrie said. “I rotated the girls quite a bit. We had nothing to lose tonight coming into the game and I think they were relaxed.”
The defense suffocated the visitors racing out to a 16-4 lead after eight minutes. The Greyhounds also outrebounded the Falcons, 12-3 in the opening quarter.
“Lisbon did a great job, played with a ton of composure and played a complete game,” Casey said.
The visitors cut the lead to seven at the break behind freshman Rylee Sevigny’s seven points.
Giana Russo and Cox each registered seven first-half points while Mallory Fairbanks added four points and had three steals.
Each team scored six third-quarter points with Lisbon taking a 26-19 lead into the final frame.
Trailing by nine early in the quarter, the Falcons’ offense began to click.
“We started to work together at the end and got some open three’s,” Sevigny said.
The freshman hit a pair of trey’s to cut the Lisbon lead to 35-29 with under two minutes remaining.
“She’s learning everyday how to be a leader on the floor and facilitate an offense,” Casey said. “As a freshman with no varsity experience, she has quite the learning curve.”
The Mountain Valley defense forced a couple of Lisbon turnovers and two putbacks from Courtney Carrier found the Falcons trailing 36-33 with 39 seconds remaining.
“We knew we were running out of time and we need to hit some shots,” said Sevigny. “We shot terrible the whole game, but started getting them at the end.”
“We got a little nervous there at the end, but I told the girls to relax, you’re all guards, protect the ball,” Petrie said.
Lisbon protected the ball and came away with the victory. The Falcons came up short, but coach Casey wasn’t upset.
“Our girls never quit and I’m pretty proud of them,” Casey added.
Sevigny finished with a game-high 17 points while Carrier added eight and Lyons seven.
Russo finished with a team-high 14 points for Lisbon while Cox added 10. Fairbanks finished with six points and seven rebounds to go with her five steals.
Basketball hoop
Send questions/comments to the editors.
