YARMOUTH — It’s hard to win a basketball game when you only score 10 points through the first three quarters, but Wells almost pulled off the nearly impossible, as the Warriors offense came alive in the fourth quarter. But Yarmouth had enough of a lead and enough left in the tank to hold on for a 33-26 victory in a WMC girls basketball game at Stroud Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Both teams employed zone defenses from the start, which led to a low-scoring first quarter. The Clippers (5-7) jumped ahead 4-3 after the first eight minutes, as they held Wells (3-10) to just a Hannah Moody 3-pointer.

Yarmouth was able to grab a little momentum in the second quarter, thanks to field goals by Sara D’Appolonia and Cory Langenbach ”“ just the second and third field goals of the game for the Clippers. The Yarmouth zone defense and full-court press did its job, holding the Warriors without a field goal and just two made free throws as the Clippers led 10-5 at halftime.

“We’ve seen them play a couple times live, and seen them on tape. We knew what they were going to be running,” Wells head coach Don Abbott said regarding Yarmouth’s zone defense. “I think it was just a matter of playing too tentative. It felt like early on we were just afraid to make mistakes.

“They were active and they were aggressive, and they did a good job. I felt like we were just settling too much on the perimeter.”

The Clippers pulled away in the third quarter, as they started the second half on an 11-3 run to take a 21-8 lead. D’Appolonia missed a pull-up jumper at the buzzer, but Yarmouth led comfortably 23-10 after three quarters. D’Appolonia scored six of her game-high 15 points in the frame, and Langenbach added four of her seven.

“She’s a good player. I like the way she plays,” Abbott said of D’Appolonia, who is just a freshman. “She plays with no fear, and she wants the ball in her hands.”

While Yarmouth’s point guard ”“ D’Appolonia ”“ took charge in the third quarter, Abbott said his point guard needed to do the same for his team in the fourth.

She did.

Sophomore Ally O’Brien scored the first four points of the fourth on two free throws ”“ which came off a drive to the hoop ”“ and a pull-up jumper, which propelled the Warriors to a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 23-19 with 6:05 left.

“You’re looking for some leadership, you’re looking for someone to step up; she’s a natural candidate for that,” Abbott said of O’Brien. “I said to her, I said ”˜listen, you got to go to the basket. You got to make some stuff happen for us.’ And she did, and I feel like people started feeding off of her energy a little bit.”

The lead fluctuated, but the Warriors couldn’t cut it to a one-possession game. That was thanks in part to D’Appolonia, who keyed multiple fast breaks for Yarmouth which led to easy layups. D’Appolonia also added six more points in the fourth.

“She showed a lot of poise down the stretch,” Abbott said of D’Appolonia. “She’s clearly their guy. She’s sort of the compass of that team.”

Abbott lamented after the game what could have been for his young team if the first three quarters went as the last one did.

“I just liked the energy that we gave at the end. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t bring that for 32 minutes,” said Abbott. “It was just too late by that point.

“The games where we’ve strung together 32 minutes, we’ve been pretty good.”

O’Brien finished with a team-high eight points ”“ all in the second half ”“ for Wells, while Moody and Sara Ring each hit a pair of 3-pointers to finish with six points.

The Warriors return to action on Friday, when they host Fryeburg Academy at 6:30 p.m.

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.