BATH

Thursday night’s girls high school basketball game was bound to be a tough one for Hyde.

It was the first game back from a two-week long winter break for an inexperienced Phoenix group still trying to gel and find some chemistry.

Old Orchard Beach, on the other hand, had been in the middle of its winter season and practicing regularly.

That advantage showed early on the court, as the visiting Seagulls sprinted out to an early lead that eventually led to a 46-20 win.

“Sometimes, we’ll end up beating ourselves,” Hyde coach Jen Lobozzo said. “And that’s tough. Making lob passes when we should be making solid, crisp chest passes or a nice bounce pass. They get up in their head and the intensity’s there, but the sound, smart basketball isn’t.”

OOB’s (2-3) Kaitlyn Cote set the tone right off the opening tap with a steal and lay-in that opened the scoring. Another bucket and a trey from Brianna Plante made the score 7-0 and forced an early Hyde (2-3) timeout.

The Seagulls were using a half-court press on top of their size down low to stuff the Phoenix and halt any ball movement on the perimeter. For Lobozzo, though, the issues were on both sides.

“We’ll have a game plan and they’re just struggling to execute it against a very talented team,” she said. “They’re were some opportunities on the floor where we could have probably broken their press and adjusted quicker on the floor on offense to their defense.”

OOB kept its foot on the gas and cruised to a 26-11 halftime lead behind Maggie Strohm, who scored a game-high 12 points and hauled in six rebounds. Strohm, taller than anyone on the court by a good margin, controlled the paint and drew multiple fouls under the hoop. When it wasn’t there, she dished it outside and let a shooter find the net.

The Seagulls hit three 3- pointers and had a handful of wide-open looks outside.

“I think they’re just an older team,” Hyde senior Emma Levensohn said. “I think they’ve been playing together for a long time. We’re a very new team. Every year, we’re working with what we have and I think that we put up a great fight with what we do have.”

Improvement

Levensohn led the way for Hyde in a much-improved second frame. After managing just one point in the first, the Phoenix found some passing lanes outside and finished off a couple lay-ups to cut into the deficit. Levensohn notched three points and pulled in four of her game-high eight rebounds in the frame.

With 1:50 left to go in the half, Anna Doline was fouled from beyond the arc and splashed three free-throws in a row to briefly make the score 20-9.

“I think just looking for holes in their defense,” Levensohn said of the key to getting some points on the board. “I think we often get really frantic. Just having patience is something that we’ve talked about a lot in practice. Really just trying to use that and really work together and talk. I think talking is our biggest obstacle right now.”

OOB wasn’t finished, though, and turnovers hurt Hyde throughout the night. Cote finished with a teamhigh six boards from the guard spot for the Seagulls and also stole the ball three teams. All three resulted in a lay-up and by the end of the third frame, the lead was up to 18.

Lobozzo was forced into making adjustments throughout the game.

“We’ve got to match their aggression,” Lobozzo said. “The quick adjustments come from ‘OK we need to stop them from their momentum.’ We’re a big proponent of defense is where that starts. So making a couple solid plays on defense and then looking to slow it and settle it down on offense.”

Senior Timesha Walker collected three steals in the backcourt for Hyde, but none resulted in points. Doline led the scoring with eight, while Levensohn finished with seven.

All the Phoenix can do now is get back into the gym.

“Walk off the court knowing “OK, when I come back to practice tomorrow, 30 minutes before practice time, I’m working on x, y and z.’ It is sometimes going back to the fundamentals or with a partner working on my shooting, working on my dribbling. Those types of things.”

“I think it’s definitely a learning experience,” Levensohn said of the result. “I think they’re definitely one of the tougher competitors that we’ll go against. What we talked about is, no matter what the score is, we come off the court and we feel good about how we played. In a game like this, there’s obviously lots we have to work on, but I feel good about how we played.”

Old Orchard 46, Hyde 20

At Hyde School in Bath

OOB		—		16	10	8	12	—	46
Hyde			—	1	10	5	4	—	20

OOB — Maggie Strohm 6-0-12, Tiff Ledaire 0-0-0, Sammie Donnell 2-0- 5, Emily Greenlee 3-3-9, Brianna Plante 3-0-8, Meg LaPlante 0-0-0, Victoria Niedzwiecki 1-0-2, Kaitlyn Cote 3-0-6, Meg Niedzwiecki 1-0-2, Joyce Doucette 0-0-0, Zoe Young 1- 0-2, Maya Hebert 0-0-0. Totals — 20- 3-46. Hyde — Anna Doline 2-4-8, Madison Hughes 1-0-2, Timesha Walker 1-0-2, Emma Levensohn 3-1-7, Allie Grover 0-0-0, Alice Yokabaskas 0-1-1, Bailey Kent 0-0-0. Totals — 7-6-20. 3-point field goals — (OOB) Brianna LaPlante 2, Sammie Donnell. Records — OOB 2-3, Hyde 1-2. Up next for the Phoenix — Saturday at Hebron Academy, 3 p.m.