SUNAPEE – For the first time ever, a playoff game was held at Mount Royal Academy as the Knights welcomed the Newmarket Mules. The host would send the fans home happy by grabbing the victory, 38-33.
Both teams very clearly felt the pressure in the first, as neither squad could put together an effective offense possession. Mount Royal struggled to keep the ball, turning it over on most of their early offensive possessions. “Nerves, definitely nerves,” said Mount Royal Head Coach Derek Tremblay. “We have never been here before, nobody has been here before,” he laughed.
The two teams traded the ball back and forth until Newmarket finally scored for the first time with three minutes remaining. The Mules would lead after one, 6-3.
Newmarket from the start put their entire defensive focus on Alexis Matte. “We know she is a really good scorer, so our focus was to lock her down,” said Newmarket Head Coach Meghan Avrill. This plan worked for awhile, as the Knights’ offense sputtered without their leading scorer.
But, halfway through the second, a solution was found. “We made an adjustment on the inbounds,” said Tremblay. “They only sent one girl down their, so we would always have Jacinta (Hogan) screen here to get Alexis open.”
After making this adjustment, the Knights went on a quick run to close the gap. Just as they closed on the Mules lead, Newmarket would strike back. Led by Reagan Jordan and her game high 17 points, they were able to jump back out to a small lead. However, the game would tighten up before half, 20-18.
Newmarket kept in a full court press coming out of the gate, once again slowing down the Knights’ offense. With Matte contained, it was up to other players to step up. And Sophie LaRose was up to the challenge. She would drop 12 points, on many impressive drives to the rim, including her push through three defenders for a layup that would give Mount Royal it’s first lead with 5:40 remaining in the third.
“I think we finally settled for the fact that we needed to get other girls involved,” said Tremblay. “I don’t think that teams know that if you shut down Alexis, we have scorers like Sophie and Jacinta.”
Some turnovers late in the quarter would keep the Knights from pulling away with their lead, and the two teams went into the final period knotted up at 28.
While the game stayed tight, the third was firmly in Mount Royal’s control. Both teams again struggled to score, but the Knights were able to open up a three point lead with a minute thirty remaining. The Mules apparently forgot that that Mount Royal had five players on the floor, leaving Hogan open for the dagger three. Newmarket would attempt to rally late with another three by Jordan, but they would fall short, 38-33.
“We were missing a senior captain,” said Avrill. “We had some freshman getting their first tournament experience. And we suffered from a lack of focus and execution.”
For Tremblay, he was impressed with how his team handled the situation. “The girls really embraced the moment.”
The Knights will hope to embrace the moment once again Thursday, as they will travel to take on the two-seeded Hindsdale Pacers.
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