AUGUSTA — The Valley girls basketball team needed to limit turnovers, control the boards and prevent any big runs to surprise once-beaten Hyde in a Western D quarterfinal game Monday morning at the Augusta Civic Center.

The No. 6 Cavaliers struggled in all three areas and bowed out of the tournament with a 48-28 loss to the No. 3 Phoenix.

“They took it to us,” Valley coach Mike Rowe said. “We didn’t play our game. We didn’t play how we are capable of playing. We thought we had a chance. It’s disappointing to end the season on a note like that.”

Hyde senior guard Kara Fischer led all scorers with 19 points to go along with six rebounds. Kathryn Comeaux finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Phoenix (17-1), which used a 16-1 run at the end of the first half and into the second to put the game out of reach.

“Our job was to take out Valley and we did that,” Hyde coach Richard Polgar said. “Valley is a scrappy team and we didn’t want to look by them.”

Junior guard Teagan Laweryson finished with 15 points and Sydney Vincent added eight for Valley (5-14), which couldn’t overcome 32 turnovers.

“We did some uncharacteristic things,” Rowe said. “We had way too many turnovers, and we hadn’t done that in awhile. Maybe it was the nerves. We had no intensity on defense and we let Fischer do anything she wanted. She just dominated.

“Not getting off to a good start didn’t help. The nerves settled in a little but more.”

The game was tied at 6-6 before the Phoenix closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run, including three fastbreak layups created off turnovers.

Hyde pushed the lead to 19-9 early in the second quarter before Laweryson scored four points in a 6-0 Valley run to make it 19-15.
Polgar called a timeout shortly after.

“I told them that there were two and half minutes left in the half and that we should close it out on a positive note,” he said. “And we did, which was key for us.”

Hyde finished the second quarter on an 8-0 lead and carried the momentum into the third.
Comeaux and Fisher each scored four points in the first three minutes of the second half as the Phoenix pushed their lead to 35-16.

“They had too many second shots, too many third shots,” Rowe said. “We didn’t box out well and we gave them the lanes. But you have to hand it to Hyde because they came out ready.”

Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com