Morse High School girls basketball coach Becky Roak was looking for that little something extra against a good and visiting Belfast unit.

Saturday, at the Bath Middle School gym, Roak received a competitiveness from whistle to whistle, but a paltry shooting display (35 percent) and a 16-point halftime deficit were just too much for the Shipbuilders to overcome in a 52-41 Class B win for the 5-1 Lions.

Though the Shipbuilders led early (6-3), the Lions’ endto end pressure, the inside talent of Lexi Nelligan (18 points, 12 rebounds) and the outside threat of Katrina Lapham (20 points, including two early 3-pointers) took over.

A 6-3 lead turned into a 10-1 spurt as Belfast led 13-7 after one quarter, 30-14 at the half and 45-29 after 24 minutes.

“I think what happened to us in the first half was that we had a hard time defending, for some reason,” said Morse coach Becky Roak. “We just weren’t ready to play and we got beat off the dribble quite a bit.

“That put is down by 16 at halftime and that’s tough to come out of unless you come out with a lot of intensity. But, the girls dug in during the second half and played a little bit better defensively. We tried to go zone to see if we could prevent them from penetrating, but then they had a couple of shooters stick a couple of threes.”

Sadia Crosby erupted for 14 of her team-high 16 points in the second half to help whittle down the deficit, which never got closer than nine on several occasions.

Signe Ostergaard had her moments as well and contributed with 10 points, but a couple of player control fouls slowed down the freshman, who also had to deal with a lot of ball-handling, along with Megan Hixon.

The Shipbuilders also held a healthy 42-28 rebounding edge, led by Crosby (15), Leia Graves (7) and Isabelle Paulus (5).

The Lions held a foul-line advantage, cashing in 19 of 31, while Morse, scheduled to visit Mt. View on Thursday (5 p.m.), was seven of 18.

It took Morse 2:06 into the first quarter to get on the scoreboard on Graves’ bucket, but the hosts went up 6-3 on two Ostergaard drives.

Alas, a Lapham trey with 3:32 sparked a 10-1 run to end the frame.

The Lions built up momentum with a furious second quarter. Nelligan (seven points) was active inside and Lapham drained another trey, which staked Belfast to its first double-digit lead (21-11).

Although the Lions scored first in the third quarter, Morse stitched together a nice 7-2 run, but a three-point play by Lapham pushed the margin back up to 14 (38-24) with 4:16 left.

With both coaches emptying their benches, the Lions had 14 free throws down the stretch, making five, to help stave off the Builders.

“But, we’re having a ball,” added Roak. “Obviously, no one likes to lose and it’s tough to say that now. But, the kids are having fun, I’m having fun, and we’re getting better every day. We just came out flat today and we didn’t need to do that in order to beat that team.”

Belfast 52, Morse 41

Belfast 13 17 15 7 — 52
Morse 771512—41
Belfast — M. Cummings 0-0-0, Littlefield 2-0-
5, Nelligan 5-8-18, Thibodeau 1-0-2, Faulkingham 0-0-0, Nichols 0-0-0, Lapham 6-6-20,
Sturgis 1-2-4, Flagg 0-2-2, Drinkwater 0-0-0,
B. Cummings 0-1-1. Totals — 15-19-52.
Morse — Graves 1-0-2, Harrington 2-1-5,
Sutter 0-0-0, Curtis 0-0-0, Crosby 7-2-16,
McNeill 1-0-2, Hixon 0-1-1, Rossetti 1-0-2,
Ostergaard 4-2-10, Paulus 1-0-2, Nadeau 0-1-
1. Totals — 17-7-41.
3-point field goals — (B) Lapham (2), Littlefield. Records — Belfast 5-1, Morse 3-3.
Up next for Morse — At Mt. View on Thursday
(5 p.m.).