Thursday night’s girls high school basketball game between Hyde and Pine Tree Academy was deadlocked after three quarters, and both teams had one last run in them.
First it was the Phoenix, who jumped out to a 9-1 run to start the frame. Then came PTA, which stormed back with nine of the game’s last 11 points, due in large part to Alex Goodman, who tallied seven of them. In the end, a missed free throw in the final minute proved costly, and Hyde held on to win, 31-30.
“We had to get the ball down on our court on offense, and start to move the ball and swing it,” Hyde coach Jen Lobozzo said. “That was the message at halftime for the third quarter, to really start moving the ball and looking inside but also looking to swing it outside and catching their defense off balance.”
The Phoenix used a balanced scoring attack of Timesha Walker, Lutes Bartlett and Alex Bassinger, who each picked up eight points on four field goals. Bartlett led the team with 11 boards, and Walker had four steals in the second half. The Phoenix took over double the shots that PTA did, but managed just 30 percent from the field.
PTA struggled more, shooting 21 percent, but relied heavily on free throws, which made up over a third of its points.
“How we played isn’t reflective of how we can play,” PTA coach Josh Dayen said. “We couldn’t make anything happen in the first half.”
Goodman, who made eight of her team’s 11 free throws, was a force to be reckoned with offensively, accounting for 19 of the Breakers’ 30 points. The guard hauled in eight rebounds and landed the game’s only trey.
“She’s my captain. She holds us together,” Dayen said of Goodman. “Obviously, she’s an offensive force, but she also has the most experience. She has more experience than the other four starters combined, so she keeps us focused.”
“She’s a force,” Lobozzo said. “She loves to drive but then also takes those NBA threes, so we had to respect that as well.”
Goodman took over the game after Hyde’s dominant 9-1 run in the fourth quarter, forcing the Phoenix to adjust. In a sloppy game with 57 turnovers, long possessions of ball movement proved vital.
“We had a game plan going into it to shut her down,” Lobozzo said of Goodman. “She was seeing some daylight in the paint and we needed to squeeze in and shut down there. But then we got the ball, we needed to make sure we were getting it past half court once they started to press especially. And settle — not get in our head and make smart passes. Just playing smart.”
Hyde reached the freethrow line just twice, and instead battled in the paint for loose rebounds and putback chances. The Phoenix grabbed 14 offensive boards in the win.
“We didn’t rebound really at all in the first half, so that’s going to be key for us,” Dayen said. “They had a lot of offensive putbacks that should have never happened at all.”
Dayen said his team was rusty having not played a game since Dec. 22, but ultimately thinks the result will “benefit my team.”
Sophie Kayumba chipped in with six points and Stacey Cateleon grabbed four rebounds for PTA.
Hyde bounced back after what Lobozzo called “a tough overtime loss” on Tuesday to North Yarmouth Academy, even with two starters out and dressing eight players.
The Phoenix are back in action on Saturday, when they’ll travel to Hebron Academy for a game at 3 p.m. PTA hosts Seacoast Christian at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
“Our will to prepare needs to be greater than our will to win,” Lobozzo said. “Now we’re 3-3 and we’re still in it for Class C. It’s proof for these girls that they can do it.”
Hyde 31, Pine Tree Academy 30
Thursday, at Hyde School
| PTA | — | 5 | 11 | 4 | 10 | — | 30 | |
| Hyde | — | 4 | 8 | 8 | 11 | — | 31 |
Pine Tree Academy — Adriana Depalma 0-1-1, Stacey Cateleon 1-0- 2, Alex Goodman 5-8-19, Lauren Krueger 0-0-0, Sophie Kayumba 3-0- 6, Elizabeth Frye 0-2-2. Totals — 9- 11-30. Hyde — Lutes Bartlett 4-0-8, Brook Clement 2-1-5, Allie Grover 0-0-0, Jill Tolman 0-0-0, Alex Bassinger 4-0-8, Meghan McCaffrey 1-0-2, Timesha Walker 4-0-8. Totals — 15-1-31. 3-point field goals — (PTA) Alex Goodman. Records — Hyde 3-3, Pine Tree Academy 5-1. Next up for Pine Tree Academy — Saturday at home against Seacoast Christian, 6 p.m. Next up for the Phoenix — Saturday at Hebron Academy, 3 p.m.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less