Pine Tree Academy’s Adriana DePalma, right, drives to the basket as Hebron Academy’s Franceska Halloran holds her ground during Tuesday night’s game in Freeport. (Russ Dillingham / Sun Journal)
FREEPORT — From start to finish, Hebron Academy was patient in attack and aggressive on the boards in its end-to-end girls’ basketball win over Pine Tree Academy on Tuesday.
Hebron (4-1) took the lead after the first couple of minutes and never relinquished it, earning a 37-30 win over the Breakers (3-4).
“Patience made a big difference in terms of being effective on both offense and defense,” Hebron head coach Colin Griggs said. “When it came down to them taking a shot, we did well rebounding. We anticipated some of those shots well and we got them.”
Hebron controlled the boards all night. Two big reasons for the domination down low were Hebron forwards Allyson Walsh and Reily New, who had nine rebounds combined in the final two quarters.
“The big thing for them was they rebounded really well today,” Griggs said. “That made a big difference because then there weren’t many second-chance points against us.”
Hebron entered the third quarter with a 15-10 lead, and then New took over. She has size and post skills, but three of her four shots were long-range jumpers from the right side of the court.
“That’s her shot,” teammate Franceska Halloran said.
That shot was falling in the third quarter and helped Hebron increase its lead to 29-22 heading into the fourth.
Halloran hit 3-pointers in the first, third and fourth quarters and finished with 12 points. For Halloran, seeing the ball go through the hoop so early was key to breaking out of a shooting slump.
“It feels really good because they hadn’t been falling, so having them finally fall is a huge relief,” Halloran said. “It’s what I’ve worked for.”
Pine Tree Academy had strong performances by guards Adriana DePalma and Emily Schlisner, who finished with 10 and 13 points, respectively. Both players hit a layup in the fourth quarter but, as was the story the whole night for the Breakers, not enough went in.
“I didn’t keep a possession count, but I am pretty sure we won the game there,” Pine Tree Academy coach Josh Dayen said. “I just wish we had dropped a few in the net because we got the shots that we wanted to get, but they didn’t go in. I know how well each of my players can shoot and it wasn’t reflective of what we can do. We missed a couple open layups and it’s disappointing, but I think we will give them a good shot next time we see them, for sure.”
Shooting struggles plagued the Breakers all game. They also struggled to secure their share of defensive rebounds as Walsh had four offensive boards in the second half. That helped Hebron pass the ball around on multiple extra possessions to find the right shot.
In the fourth quarter, Hebron held the ball for more than a minute by just passing to Walsh, Halloran and others in circles until the Lumberjacks found the right shot. The Lumberjacks’ patience was a huge advantage, but when they needed to turn on the jets, Halloran was confident in their ability to do so.
“It was easier when we moved the ball quicker, because they didn’t move as fast as we did on offense and they were on defense, so we moved the ball fast and got wide-open shots,” Halloran said.
With a 36-25 lead with 3:40 remaining, Hebron played strong defense to stave off any kind of meaningful comeback by the Breakers, only allowing five more points the rest of the way.
“We wanted to pressure them more and stay close to the ball so they couldn’t drive by us easily, and we took away the easy passes which made it harder for them to get baskets,” Halloran said.
The Breakers are slated to host North Haven on Thursday (5 p.m.) and Friday (9 a.m.).
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