Freeporter Kayla Belanger led her girls over the visiting Spruce Mountain Phoenix on Friday evening, Dec. 11, adding 19 for the Falcons, including a late-game three-point play to put them on top for the last time. The game pivoted around a half-dozen lead changes, but Freeport took a hard-fought W, 58-56, in the end.

“We came out with a victory,” said Freeport head coach Mike Hart, “and we’re pretty happy [the girls] fought back, because at one point we were down five or seven and they didn’t give up on that.”

Spruce jumped on top first, though Freeport soon took control, building to a 7-2, then 18-11 and 24-13. But midway through the second quarter, the Phoenix began an auspicious ascent from their seeming ashes: They ended the half with a run of seven and slashed their 11-point deficit to four, 24-20, at the break.

“We were playing smart,” said Hart of his girls’ dominant stretch. “When we play our best, we’re moving the ball up the floor, we’re taking shots in transition – which we did; we started making some of those, getting into the flow of the game.”

“Then we started fouling them, putting them on the line,” Hart said of Spruce’s comeback. “I think they had 10 points from the line in the first half. It took our momentum away, and they made some great shots from the free-throw line.”

Spruce continued to claw back in the third, outscoring the Falcons 20-16 and tying the tally at 40 going into the final eight minutes, when the tension ratcheted up yet another notch.

The Phoenix took flight early in the home stretch, earning a 49-43 advantage on points by Hannah St. Pierre and Alex Bessy. Then, however, it was Freeport’s turn to battle back.

Johanna Bogue-Marlow kicked off the action with a critical three – her only bucket of the game – before Kayla Belanger added another and evened the score yet again. Regan Lynch then turned a beautiful steal; a rough foul nullified her chances of laying the ball in for an easy two, but she nailed both her frees to give the Falcons a 51-49 edge.

Freeport earned themselves a lucky break when Bessy – who hashed 20 points on the evening, including 12 from the line – fouled out. Hart explained his strategy:

“I called a time-out to try to get [Bessy] in the paint,” he said. “It was a set call; whoever she was guarding, we were going to put her in the paint, we were going to post up and see if we couldn’t get something one-on-one, because with four fouls, you can’t really go at it 100 percent. And she did, she picked it up.”

Spruce’s Ryle Moore leveled the board again at 52-52. That’s when Belanger capped her stellar performance with a battering-ram charge to the inside for a lay-up that also drew the foul. She sank the extra point – her 19th of the contest. Teammate Taylor Rinaldi, also having an excellent night, followed the play with a pretty steal at midcourt, which she returned for two more.

Freeport hadn’t escaped danger quite yet, and Hart was visibly unhappy when his team committed some unnecessary fouls in the waning minutes, allowing the Phoenix to pull within one at 57-56. Still, the last shot of the game belonged to Falcon Jessie Driscoll, a free-throw with .6 seconds remaining for the 58-56 final.

“I’ve got gray hairs from that,” Hart said of the thoughtless fouls. “We haven’t worked a lot on end-of-game stuff because it’s early in the year, but one of the only things I can’t stand is, when the clock’s stopping and they’re adding points to the scoreboard, that’s not good for us. The clock is our enemy at that point.”

Rinaldi finished with 17 for Freeport; Lynch had 11.

Freeport jumps to 2-1 on the season. The Falcons began their schedule with a 10-point loss to Poland before dismantling Waynflete by 30; their next challenge is a visit to Sacopee Valley (1-2 as of this writing) on Thursday the 17th.

The Phoenix slide to 0-3 in 2015-16.

Freeporters Johanna Bogue-Marlow (12) and Kayla Belanger (21) double-team a Spruce attacker.Freeport’s Jess Wall towers over Spruce’s Alex Bessy.Freeport’s Kayla Belanger ducks around a Spruce defender and throws up a shot in her team’s win over the Phoenix Friday night.Regan Lynch finished with 11 critical points for the Falcons.