For three quarters. South Portland did what it wanted to do in Friday night’s girls basketball opener against Massabesic. The lead the Red Riots built up proved just enough to withstand a furious fourth-quarter comeback by the Mustangs.

South Portland (1-0) held on for a 41-36 Southwestern Maine Activities Association home victory over Massabesic (0-1). The Riots led 38-23 entering the fourth quarter, but scored only three points over the final eight minutes.

Massabesic senior Georgia Boisse – who had a game-high 17 points – put in an offensive rebound, was fouled and sank her free throw with 57 seconds to play to cut her team’s deficit to four at 40-36. The clock ran down to under 20 seconds before the Mustangs, who had committed only four fouls in the half, began fouling to stop the clock after they failed to come up with a steal.

With 14 seconds to go, the Mustangs were whistled for an intentional foul and Esther Palmieri went to the line for two. She made one and the Riots maintained possession. After another foul and a missed one-and-one, the Mustangs missed a shot at the buzzer.

“It looked like we tightened up a little bit and started making some poor decisions in some scoring situations,” said South Portland coach Mike Giordano. “But we’re young at the guard position and we’re going to have to fight through those things.”

For the Mustangs, it was a tough loss to take, as it was the third year in a row they’ve lost to South Portland by six or fewer points.

“We were down by 14, 15 points and we rallied to cut it down to four,” said Massabesic coach Andrew Soldati. “I thought we had a couple chances to steal the ball and didn’t come up with it.”

It was tough early on for Massabesic. Boisse picked up her fourth foul less than two minutes into the second quarter. One of the top players in the conference, she led the team in scoring, rebounds, assists and steals last season, so the early foul trouble hurt the Mustangs. She didn’t sit long, but wasn’t as aggressive as usual, especially on the defensive end.

“That hurts,” Soldati said. “That puts us in the hole because we always look to Georgia to do her thing for us. But it was good for us to learn that we can do things without her.”

The Riots’ game plan was to try to limit Boisse.

“She’s a first-team all-star,” Giordano said. “We just wanted to make sure she didn’t go off for 30 points tonight. We got her in foul trouble early and that really helped our cause.”

South Portland took a 16-8 lead after the first quarter behind the strong inside play of senior Brianna Hawkins and sophomore Abby Hasson. The two combined for 12 points in the opening quarter. Hasson finished with 13 while Hawkins scored nine.

“That’s definitely the strength of our team and we’ll be looking to get the ball inside consistently,” Giordano said.

South Portland took its biggest lead of the game midway through the second quarter when Palmieri drained a three. She finished with nine points.

Massabesic scored the first three baskets of the fourth quarter, with Boisse, Deena Watson and Kayla Schneider each scoring to make it 38-29 with 5:16 left, forcing a South Portland timeout. Hasson scored a layup after a lengthy possession out of the timeout to halt the 6-0 run.

Watson finished with 13 points for Massabesic. She and Boisse combined for 30 of the team’s 36 points. Soldati said developing depth will be crucial for the Mustangs moving forward, as the team currently only goes six players deep. He said he’s watching for some of his younger players to step up in practice to earn playing time.

For the Red Riots, improving patience and the gaining experience in the backcourt will be key as the season progresses.

“We did a nice job breaking the press then we turned the ball over down (in the half court),” Giordano said. “We need to continue to work on patience in the half court and getting good shots.”

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