With just four games left in the regular season and a ticket nearly stamped for one of the top seeds in the upcoming state tournament, the Newton North girls basketball team knows the most important games are on the horizon.
So, fortunately for the Tigers, they can put performances like Friday night's behind them.
Billed as the Game of the Year in the Bay State Conference against unbeaten Wellesley, North came out flat from opening tip, scoring just 10 points in the first half, and never recovered in a 52-35 loss in front of a packed house at Wellesley High.
``There will be bigger games later on,'' North coach Hank DeSantis said. ``We need to learn from this, get better from it, stick together, and we'll be OK.''
The Tigers had their nine-game winning streak snapped and suffered their first loss in the conference, falling to 14-2 overall, while the Raiders remain undefeated at 16-0.
``I was pleased with our first half and our first quarter. We all played well,'' Wellesley coach Kristin Cieri said. ``The kids executed the game plan, did what they were supposed to do, and they did it very well. We wanted to control their guards, and you have to do that with five people without letting the other kids go off.''
North had no answer for the duo of junior Blake Dietrick and senior captain Mary Louise Dixon. Dixon scored 12 points, while Dietrick had a game-high 23, including 11 of the Raiders' 13 points in the critical third quarter when the Tigers tried to claw back into the game.
Junior Brianna Hunt was the only player to reach double-figures for North with 12 points, while sophomore Gracie Rolfe had seven and senior Lucy Abbot scored six.
Both teams came out playing tight man-to-man defense. The Tigers scored four points in the first few minutes but went scoreless the rest of the first quarter and trailed 9-4 after one. A 15-foot jumper by senior Monet Lowe cut it to 9-6 to start the second quarter, but Wellesley responded with an 8-0 run to establish a 17-6 advantage with 3:48 left until halftime.
After a layup by Lowe made it 17-8, the Raiders again went on a 7-0 run to go up 24-8 before a driving layup by junior Djaidah Wynn cut it to 24-10 at the break.
``I thought we got good shots in the first half,'' DeSantis said. ``We got good looks at it, and it just rimmed out. We probably shot 20 percent in the first half. We need to execute a little better, we need to play offense a little better, but we got some good looks.''
North remained cold to start the second half, and a layup by senior Midge Daniel gave Wellesley its largest lead at 34-14 with 3:44 left in the third. The Tigers then responded with their best effort of the game with a 9-0 run, capped by a long jumper by Rolfe, to make it 34-23 in the final minute of the frame.
North looked to cut the deficit to single digits before the fourth quarter, holding for the final shot, but the Tigers shot a little too early, enabling Wellesley to get the rebound and Dietrick to nail a back-breaking 3-pointer with three seconds left in the quarter as the Raiders took a 37-23 lead.
``I wanted one shot, and we shot the ball really early, which gave (Wellesley) time to come back on the other end,'' DeSantis said. ``That was a momentum-turner.''
Dietrick scored the first four points of the fourth quarter. Dixon added a bucket to cap a 6-0 run to start the final frame that essentially salted it away with at 43-23 with 6:59 left. The Raiders opened it up to a 24-point advantage before settling for the 17-point victory.
``We knew (North) wasn't going to go away,'' Cieri said. ``They have some very good players, great guards, and they're big in the middle. They're a very good team. This was certainly one of our better combined efforts, that's for sure.''
North will look to get back on track when it travels to Brookline tomorrow. The Tigers defeated the Warriors by 12 points in the first meeting in early January.
