Lilli Allen went home during the just completed holiday season. For many Hyde School-Bath student/athletes, it is not as easy as getting out of school, riding the bus a short distance and chilling out.
For Allen and many of her Phoenix teammates, going home usually means a long bus, car or plane ride, and time away from the basketball court.
Allen, who is from Nashville, returned a couple days before the start of classes to work on her basketball game along with her teammates. The extra work paid off for the sophomore, who scored 12 points, including two key buckets in the fourth quarter in a 34-26 Western Maine Class D win over Valley on Thursday.
Leading 25-24 with 2:41 remaining, Allen’s steal and fast-break hoop upped Hyde’s lead to three. One minute later, Allen came through again, this time stepping back and draining a 3-pointer with 1:38 left on the clock for a 30-26 advantage.
On defense, Hyde’s Diamond Brown stepped up her game in the second half, She pulled down eight of her game-high 10 rebounds after halftime and scored 10 points for a double-double.
“Lilli controls the tempo of the game, and Diamond is a three-year starter in the post for us and is the coach on the court,” said Hyde coach Richard Polgar. “Diamond is the one that tells me to calm down when I am getting too emotional.”
“Diamond spoke to us during a timeout and it really fired us up and allowed us to push our way through,” said Allen, who said the three weeks of down time was tough for the Phoenix to overcome. “We did a preseason thing when we came back, and it was tough. We did a lot of conditioning, and we jumped right into it.”
After downing Seacoast Christian on Tuesday, 50-32, the Phoenix found the going much more difficult against Valley, which held Hyde to just 28-percent shooting in the first half (7-of-25) and led 17-15 at the intermission.
“We had to really reach down for this victory today,” said Polgar. “Credit to Valley. It certainly looked like they had been playing over the holidays. We might have played our worst basketball of the season in this one, like we were on vacation for a while.”
After getting outrebounded 18-11 in the first half, Hyde turned up the pressure on the boards to the tune of a 20-13 edge in the second half. A 10-3 scoring advantage in the third quarter gave the Phoenix a 25-20 lead, and after Valley closed to within one point on two occasions in the fourth, Hyde reached down, closing the contest on a 7-0 run.
“The defining characteristic of this team so far has been ‘resilience,’” said Polgar. “We got the job done. For us, it is about getting back and playing defense. If we stick to what we do best, which is to hustle and play good defense, we believe we control our own destiny.
“We are still trying to find our collective personality. We believe we have an undefined potential for this team. It will be exciting to see how high that cap is.”
Slow going
Neither team found much of an offensive flow in the first quarter. Brown scored on Hyde’s first possession, but the Phoenix misfired on their next six shots.
On the other side, Valley didn’t score until 3:30 remaining in the quarter. Hyde led 6-5 through eight minutes, with the teams combining on 17 turnovers.
Valley opened the second quarter with an 8-4 spurt, with Hallie Miller scoring six of her team-high 10 points in the frame for a 13- 10 Cavaliers lead. Brown hit a 3-pointer to tie the game, and Timesha Walker converted a pass from Brown for a two-point Hyde lead.
But, a 5-0 run to close the half gave Valley a two-point edge at the half.
Hyde again rode the strong play of Brown, who tallied five third-quarter points, while Allen hit her first trey to put the Phoenix ahead to stay.
“We need to keep doing what we are doing and push ourselves in practice,” said Allen.
Down by five, Valley used the free-throw line to get closer. Brown earned her fourth foul (all offensive), and a free throw each by Haven Mayhew and Samantha West brought the Cavaliers to 25-24 with 5:11 remaining.
After a call was reversed to give Valley the ball near mid-court, Allen stole a pass and drove the length of the court before finishing. Kyla White answered on the other end for Valley, but Allen put the Cavaliers away moments later, with Emma Levenshon scoring all four her points in the final minute to complete the eight-point win.
Hyde held Valley to a 3-for- 21 shooting performance in the second half, while the Cavaliers struggled from the charity stripe throughout (6- of-18). Meanwhile, Hyde shot 30 percent (15 of 49) and forced 25 Valley turnovers.
White had six points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers, while Mayhew chipped in five points and four steals.
Walker added six points for Hyde, with Allen picking up four steals. Lutes Bartlett pulled down nine boards, while Levenshon had five rebounds.
Hyde 34, Valley 26
At Bath
| Valley | — | 5 | 12 | 3 | 6 | — | 26 | |
| Hyde | — | 6 | 9 | 10 | 9 | — | 34 |
Valley — Hallie Miller 5-0-10, Kyla White 2-2-6, Dalayne Davis 1-0-2, Haven Mayhew 2-1-5, Charlie Savoy 0-2-2, Jordan Belanger 0-0-0, Samantha West 0-1-1. Totals — 10- 6-26. Hyde — Timesha Walker 3-0-6, Diamond Brown 4-1-10, Lilli Allen 5-0- 12, Emma Levenshon 2-0-4, Ally Grover 1-0-2, Lutes Bartlett 0-0-0, Kelsey Talbutt 0-0-0, Kristine Bailey 0-0-0. Totals — 15-1-34. 3-point field goals — (H) Allen 2, Brown. Records — Hyde 5-0, Valley 4-6. Up next for the Phoenix — Saturday at home against Highview Christian, 1:30 p.m.
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