HYDE SCHOOL girls basketball player Madison Hughes (10) tries to get by Meranda Martin (14) of Richmond during a Class C South girls basketball game in Bath on Monday evening. The visiting Bobcats moved to 13-0 on the season with a 61-16 victory.
The Richmond press is hard enough to deal with.
On Monday evening in Bath, the Hyde School girls basketball team had to deal with it down four starters and it proved to be too much very quickly.
SYDNEY UNDERHILL-TILTON of Richmond goes up to the basket with Madison Hughes (10) and Patricia Mudogo (5) of Hyde defending. Underhill-Tilton finished with 18 points.
“Our press,” Richmond coach Mike Ladner said of what was working so well. “Our press and our 3-2, our court-to-court zone. Our defense.”
Junior Sydney Underhill- Tilton led the first-quarter charge for Richmond (13-0), scoring 12 points in the frame and taking control of the paint. The Bobcats followed up a Meranda Martin opening trey with inside buckets from Underhill-Tilton and MacKenzie Abbott to get the lead to 9-0, which forced a Hyde (2-9) timeout.
Soon it was 19-0 and it got to 25-0 before the Phoenix hit their first bucket just before the quarter break.
“Right now, we’re down four starters and that’s what we’ve been battling the past couple weeks,” Hyde coach Jen Lobozzo said. “Even with that said, that’s just a really talented team in Class C. It’s tough. We knew we were facing that.”
Abbott finished with a game-high 20 points on 10 layups and had multiple steals on the night. On top of the scoring spree, Richmond forced 19 turnovers in the first half alone.
“We were trying to work hard on our defense, because that’s what wins games,” Underhill-Tilton said. “If our offense isn’t necessarily on or something’s not working, then we kind of fall back onto our defense.”
Underhill-Tilton finished with 18 points on the night and split 18 rebounds with Cassidy Harriman. Martin notched seven points and five boards, while Bryanne Lancaster finished with six points.
With the score out of reach by the end of the third quarter (53-11), Lancaster and the backups were able to come on and play the entirety of the fourth. Even for an undefeated team, it was invaluable experience.
“Getting them exposure to any type of game is nice,” Underhill-Tilton said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get them in and they understand that but any time is a good time.”
“They work their butts off all during the season and in practice, so it’s nice to be able to get them an opportunity to get in the game,” Ladner said. “Our goal all year is to get everybody to score and we had one girl left that hadn’t scored this year and she scored tonight, so that was huge for us. That was a big moment for us as a team.”
That scorer was senior Anna Nikoghoysan, who erupted the Richmond bench when she connected on a jumper earlier in the second half.
“They’re all very supportive of the starters and we’re all one big, happy family,” Ladner said. “The starters are the same way. We’re all supportive of each other. It’s just nice to get everybody in.”
Hyde numbers
On the other side, Hyde managed just five points in the first half and often had trouble even getting the ball out of the backcourt against the Bobcats.
“The press, definitely hard to beat,” Lobozzo said. “We stand like cement statues sometimes, so it’s tough for us to make plays. We’ve got to work on our passing. The number we’re focusing on right now is the number of turnovers we’re making, not the score so much.”
There were plenty more turnovers in the second half, but the Phoenix stepped up defensively in the second quarter and held Richmond to just six points in the frame.
“They elevated in their 3-2,” Lobozzo said. “The two posts started to actually communicate with each other and the wings did a nice job of taking care of the high post. They just had a spark and played a little more aggressively together.”
The unquestioned highlight of the night, though, came in the middle of the second half, where first-year basketball player Bailey Kent locked in on defense and stole a ball at midcourt. She then gathered it, dribbled to the hoop and kissed an off-hand layup off the glass and in.
Lobozzo and the Hyde bench cheered.
“We’re asking a lot from her as a starter,” Lobozzo said. “Defensively, she’s really improved. I haven’t even seen her make a left-handed layup in a warm-up, let alone in the game. It was textbook and it was solid.”
Timesha Walker led the Phoenix with six points, while Madison Hughes (eight rebounds) and Patricia Mudogo (six rebounds) split another six.
Richmond 61,
Hyde 16
At Hyde School
Richmond — 25 6 22 8 — 61
Hyde — 3 2 6 5 —16
Richmond — Sydney Underhill-Tilton
8-2-18, Meranda Martin 3-0-7,
Bryanne Lancaster 3-0-6, Cassidy
Harriman 0-0-0, Caitlin Kendrick 1-0-
2, MacKenzie Abbott 10-0-20, Lindsie
Irish 1-0-2, Ashley Abbott 1-2-4,
Anna Nikoghoysan 1-0-2, Rylie Irish
0-0-0. Totals — 28-4-61.
Hyde — Alison Grover 0-0-0, Madison 1-1-3, Bailey Kent 1-0-2, Timesha Walker 3-0-6, Alice Yokabaskas
1-0-2, Willow Beavis 0-0-0, Patricia
Mudogo 1-1-3, Kyra Holdampf 0-0-0,
Grace Yu 0-0-0, Elena Waldstein 0-0-
0. Totals — 7-2-16.
3-point field goals — (R) Martin.
Records — Richmond 13-0, Hyde 2-
9.
Up next for the Bobcats — Wednesday at North Yarmouth Academy,
5:30 p.m.
Up next for the Phoenix — Today at
Old Orchard Beach, 5 p.m.
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