Lyman gets aggressive, picks up 1st win
Lebanon — There were times when the Lyman Memorial girls' basketball team was too nice for its own good during Wednesday's game against Tourtellotte.
Lyman was devoured on the boards in both the second and third quarter, eliciting more than a few groans from the Bulldogs' bench. And, surprise, surprise, that problem resulted in it falling behind after an early 10-point lead.
The Bulldogs got aggressive in the fourth quarter and it made a big difference. They scored the game's final eight points for their first win of the season, 2823, in an Eastern Connecticut Conference North Division game.
“We have very nice girls, that's for sure,” Lyman coach Jessica Castillo said. “Sometimes, we talk to them that we need to be a little more intense, we need a little more aggressive. That was a big thing that I actually wrote on my (whiteboard). ‘Box out'.
“We need to be more aggressive. Boxing out, you need to make contact.”
Sophomore Kassidy LaTour had nine points, four rebounds and three steals for the Bulldogs (1-2) and senior April Beckwith had seven points and 10 rebounds. Junior Callie Nanos added five rebounds.
Junior Alivia Dalpe had eight points for Tourtellotte (0-2), and Hailey Johnson added 11 rebounds.
LaTour started the game with a 3-pointer. A layup by junior Kasey Cook ended a run that gave the Bulldogs a 10-0 lead with 2 minutes, 36 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Tigers outrebounded Lyman, 30-15, over the second and third quarters. That included 12 offensive rebounds for Tourtellotte.
“We don't box out, and then we watch (the ball),” said Bulldogs senior Kate Anderson (three steals). “That's where we've been losing our games. … You've got to want the ball.”
Tigers junior Zeynep Acun had a putback to tie the game at 22 with 1:28 left in the third quarter.
Dalpe's jumper gave Tourtellotte its first lead, 22-20, with 43 seconds left in the period.
“What we needed to do was find a body and box out. I think that's what changed (the game) once we realized that.”
KATE ANDERSON, LYMAN MEMORIAL SENIOR GUARD
Tourtellotte had a 12-11 rebounding edge in the fourth quarter.
“What we needed to do was find a body and box out,” Anderson said. “I think that's what changed (the game) once we realized that.”
It also helped that Tourtellotte went the entire fourth quarter without a field goal. Sophomore Saydie Cooper made the second of two free throws to give the Ti
gers a 23-20 lead 14 seconds into the period, their final point.
LaTour's 3-pointer tied the game at 23 with 6:12 remaining, her second of the game.
“She's been working hard at practice with having her feet set,” Castillo said. “Today she definitely had those feet set. We know she has it in her. She had those feet set today and let those (threes) go. That was huge.”
Lyman went back ahead to stay on an unlikely play given both team's offensive struggles — junior Kasey Cook received a pass inside and made a reverse layup right-to-left to give the Bulldogs a 25-23 lead with 5:38 remaining.
“We don't want to force a pass inside,” Castillo chuckled. “It was kind of like, ‘no (don't pass it), yes, alright, we did it!' We seem to have a lot of moments like that. And like I told the girls a second ago, ‘you see something different from how I see the game over here (on the sidelines). … They see it differently. They saw that play.”
LaTour grabbed an offensive rebound and went coast-to-coast to extend Lyman's lead to 27-23 with 3:07 left. She made the first of two free throws with 1:39 remaining.
“We didn't have any scrimmages this year (because of the pandemic),” Castillo said. “We had to work the kinks out. … It was great to come out with this ‘W'.”
“We didn’t have any scrimmages this year. We had to work the kinks out. It was great to come out with this ‘W’.’’
JESSICA CASTILLO