Sometimes, four quarters boils down to one last shot, and that’s exactly what happened for Freeport and Wells on Thursday night, Jan. 28. The Falcons controlled for much of the action – they even led by 11 at one point – but the Warriors regrouped in the late going, and Natalie Thurber nailed a go-ahead three with just seconds to play.

Wells triumphed in the end, 35-32, leaving Freeport thoroughly frustrated. Head coach Mike Hart was reticent to comment after the game, but powered through, articulating the Falcons’ feelings:

“It’s a heartbreaker,” he said. “The kids are heartbroken after that loss. They played hard, they battled hard; unfortunately we came up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.”

The teams initially kept pace with one another. Freeporter Kayla Belanger opened the scoring with a two, but Alyssa Loukola soon answered for the Warriors. Two Falcons – Johanna Bogue Marlowe and Jessie Driscoll – followed up with four frees, but once again Wells answered, basketing five for a 7-6 lead.

That’s when Freeport broke away. A whole flock of Falcons – Belanger, Driscoll, Regan Lynch, Taylor Rinaldi and Megan Cormier – tallied points through the remainder of the first to put the team ahead 19-11.

Freeport mostly maintained their dominance in the second, cranking their lead to 23-13 on a consecutive pair of Rinaldi twos midway through the stretch. The Warriors finished strong, though, chipping away at the deficit they faced to head into the break down 23-16.

“We defended fairly well,” said Hart of his girls’ thwarting the Warriors through the first half, keeping their shots away from the basket and forcing turnovers. “Our pressure was good.”

The Falcons likewise ruled over the initial minutes of the third. Rinaldi and Cormier pushed them ahead 27-16 to begin, but the Warriors battled to 28-22 at the end of the quarter. Still, six points is substantial in a low-scoring affair, and Freeport appeared to have its eager talons wrapped tightly around a W.

The Warriors refused to capitulate, though. Wells kicked off the fourth with a fiery run of six, erasing their deficit in one fell swoop. Hart called timeout.

“I wasn’t disappointed in our shot selection,” said Hart. “I was disappointed in our ability to put our shots in. We got good looks. I told them, I said, ‘Listen, you’ve got to keep shooting the shot. I’m not disappointed in what we’re doing; we just need to make sure we get those shots to fall.’ And we just didn’t. We didn’t make a lot of great shots in that whole half.”

“They did a great job,” Hart said of Wells. “But in a lot of cases, we were our own worst enemy, on some possessions where we didn’t finish the easy stuff we’re capable of making.”

The Falcons looked renewed after the timeout. Cormier and Belanger combined for four, putting their squad back on top, 32-28. Halee Ramsdell then knocked down a two to keep the Warriors close, real close – too close for Freeport’s comfort, in fact.

So close that, when Thurber sank her baseline three with just 17 seconds remaining, sank it and gave Wells a 33-32 lead – their first advantage since the beginning of the battle – the Falcons were nigh out of time to respond. Thurber added two last frees for the Warriors before the buzzer, and the visitors could look forward to a long, happy bus ride home.

“It’s a hard-fought battle, and the kid hit a great shot,” said Hart. “[Hats] off to them; they hung around, played well. Thurber with a great three in the corner. We didn’t get out and guard her.”

“We defended the whole night well,” said Hart. “Except for that last play.”

Freeport slipped to 9-7 on the result. The Falcons are currently sixth in B South, and with only two games remaining on their regular schedule, they look playoffs-bound. Those matchups – at No. 2 Gray-New Gloucester and home vs. No. 4 Lake Region – are sure to be tough, providing good opportunities for Freeport to ratchet up their game.

“We played well enough to be in that game,” Hart said. “It’s anybody’s game there. We lost; the scorebook shows we lost. But we were in the game to win.

“If we make a few easy buckets, even throughout the first half, it’s a different story. And the composure piece, we’ve got to figure out ways to settle ourselves down. I know we’re a young team, but we’ve got to grow up a little bit.”

Wells’s Natalie Thurber goes up for a lay-in; Freeporter Megan Cormier stifles her effort.Freeport’s Kayla Belanger grapples midair with a Wells opponent for the ball.Falcon Jessie Driscoll takes to the skies, hunting for two.Freeport’s Johanna Bogue Marlowe battles inside against the Wells’ defense.

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