AUGUSTA — Sam Farrell was told it was just one of those nights.
Farrell, the Brunswick High girls’ basketball coach, replied, “It was a bad time for one of those nights.”
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The fifth-ranked Dragons never got into an offensive flow, hitting just 9 of 47 shots as they fell to No. 4 Cony 41-32 Friday night in an Eastern Class A quarterfinal at the Augusta Civic Center.
Brunswick missed its first 12 shots, trailed 8-0, and never recovered.
“We’ve been cold for a while. I asked the refs to fix the rims, but they must not have,” said Farrell. “We had some great looks … I’d hate to look at the film of this and see how many rattled out.”
Brunswick finished the season 12-7, losing three times to Cony. The Rams, making their first tournament appearance in three years for Coach Karen Magnusson, are now 11-8 and will face No. 8 Messalonskee in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Messalonskee upset top-seeded Morse, 53-43.
As bad as the Dragons shot, they were still in the game for a long time. That’s because Cony struggled offensively as well.
“This is a hard place to just come in and play,” said Magnusson.
Neither team shot well in the first quarter. But Cony got ahead quickly, forcing Farrell to call a timeout with his team down 8-0.
“We had a couple of shots that, if they fell early on, would have changed the complexion of the game,” said Farrell.
The Rams got a nice lift in the second quarter from Mia Diplock and Josie Lee. They combined for all 15 Cony points in the quarter, nine by Lee as she sliced inside for offensive rebounds and layups.
“We looked at each other and knew it was up to us to push the ball,” said Diplock, who led the Rams with 15 points. “We wanted to get uptempo and get some easy layups.”
Cony led 23-15 at the half and maintained its lead throughout, pushing it to 14 in the third. The Rams’ defense never let up, forcing Brunswick out of its rhythm.
“We try to get a lot of ball pressure,” said Magnusson. “We’re very good at trying to press full-court but then getting back into our half-court (defense), working as a team and not just worrying about one person, but everyone working together.
“It’s team defense and that’s what it comes down to.”
Brunswick tried to extend the game in the fourth quarter by fouling the Rams. Cony had only one field goal in the final eight minutes – a press-breaking layup by Kasey Lee with 3:06 remaining that made it 36-25 – but the Rams converted 12 of 16 free throws.
“We’ve been working hard on our foul shots,” said Diplock.
Beyond that, said Magnusson, the Rams continued to pressure the Dragons.
“We still played good defense,” she said. “You want to hit your free throws. But as long as they’re not scoring, you’re going to be OK.”
The Dragons, meanwhile, could never recover from their slow start.
“They played hard, so I can’t be unhappy,” said Farrell. “We just didn’t do the team stuff we were supposed to do.”
Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:
mlowe@pressherald.com
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