FAIRFIELD — Aside from a six minute stretch in the third quarter, the Lawrence High School girls basketball team enjoyed plenty of success against Mt. Blue on Saturday night in Folsom Gym. Those six minutes, though, were a lesson in composure for the Bulldogs.
“This is really the first team that’s really challenged us. Once we got our composure back and started running like we normally do, we kind of settled down, but that’s a good team,” Lawrence coach John Donato said.
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Mt. Blue’s 12-0 run over the final six minutes of the third quarter cut a 14 point Lawrence lead to two, but the Bulldogs reclaimed control in the fourth, opening the quarter with 7-0 run on the way to a 49-37 win.
Lawrence, now 15-0, moved back into first place in the Eastern Class A Heal Point standings with the win. Mt. Blue is now 10-6.
“We haven’t played a game in over a week, so this was kind of like a conditioning and a battle,” Lawrence junior Nia Irving, who scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, said.
An Abby Weigang layup with just over six minutes to play in the third quarter gave the Bulldogs a 31-17 lead, but Lawrence did not score again the rest of the quarter. Mt. Blue junior Caitlin Kane started the Cougars rally with a 3-pointer, Eryn Doiron’s basket with 20 seconds left in the quarter cut Mt. Blue’s deficit to 31-29.
“I thought we really started to get after it more defensively,” Mt. Blue coach Gavin Kane said. “In the first half, I really felt we came our and played a little tentative, which we haven’t been doing. We were back on our heels a little bit.”
The Cougars had a chance to keep it close, but missed 12 free throws in the fourth quarter. For the game, Mt. Blue was 16 for 31 at the line.
“We’ve shot free throws well all year. As a matter of fact, we hit 30 of 35 in our last game. That was an opportunity to at least have us hanging close,” coach Kane said.
Irving opened the fourth quarter with a layup, and Dominique Lewis (11 points) made a 3-pointer, her third of the game, to push Lawrence’s lead to 36-29. Another Irving layup, and the Bulldogs’ lead was back up to nine points.
“We know our strength, running the ball, making our layups. That’s what we have to stick to,” Irving said.
Weigang had 10 points and six boards for Lawrence. Caitlin Kane led Mt. Blue with 17 points, while Doiron scored nine.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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