WELLS — As cold as it was outside Tuesday night, it wasn’t as cold as the shooting for the Wells girls basketball team at the beginning of its home opener against Poland.
The Warriors scored just five points in the first quarter and never fully recovered, as they fell to the Knights 52-46.
Poland started the game off on a 5-0 run and kept Wells from getting easy looks on the defensive end. A Meghan Young 3-pointer with less than a minute to go kept the quarter from being a total disaster.
“We got off to a slow start on opening night (against Greely), too,” said Wells head coach Don Abbott. “We put ourselves behind the 8-ball again in the first quarter, and it takes a lot to then battle back.”
Abbott didn’t have an answer for the consecutive slow starts, which have put the Warriors in an early 0-2 hole in the standings.
“I think we’re not mentally ready to play,” said Abbott.
“We’ve just got to get in the zone better,” said Nicole Moody.
The Wells offense finally came alive in the second quarter, as Moody and Jordan Agger penetrated the Poland defense. Alison Furness chipped in with a 3-pointer, her only basket of the game.
“Once we started moving the ball, we got into the swing of it,” said Moody.
The Warriors cut the deficit to 23-19 at halftime, and went to the locker room feeling like they were back in the game, Abbott said.
Poland extended the lead coming out of the half, as Emily Bolduc and Michaella Arsenault took over. Bolduc scored 10 of her 16 points in the second half, and Arsenault scored 11 of her game-high 20 points after halftime.
Abbott said they prepared for Arsenault, who is just a sophomore, but still couldn’t stop her.
“She probably was the best player on the floor tonight,” said Abbott.
On the defensive end, the Knights went to a zone, and it kept Wells from getting any kind of flow on offense. The Warriors began to settle for 3-pointers, but many of them fell short and into the hands of a Poland player.
“We knew it was coming,” Abbott said of the zone defense. “I just think we were rushing shots.”
The Warriors trailed 34-26 heading into the fourth quarter, looking for answers as to how to get back into the game.
Moody did her best to try to claw her way back for the team, as she drove the lane and dared the Poland bigs to stop her. Moody finished with a team-high 12 points, including seven in the second half.
“She’s a spark plug for us. There’s no question about that,” Abbott said. “When we get it all figured out, she’s going to be one of the catalysts that’s going to really help us out.”
Poland had a comfortable lead with the clock winding down, but Wells made it interesting, as Kaitlyn Tufts and Stephanie Woods hit a couple late baskets. But it was too little, too late for Wells.
“I was happy with their effort, that they played hard to the end. But that doesn’t get you a win,” said Abbott.
Moody said that the Warriors don’t have it in them to go down quietly, as they showed against Poland.
“We are a team that will never quit. That’s our motto,” she said. “That’s how we play basketball.”
— Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323 or follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.
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