By Paul Howe
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
SUNAPEE — The Sunapee Lakers girls varsity basketball team gave the undefeated Concord Christian Academy team all they could handle for almost three quarters of the game before falling 47-27.
Sunapee Coach Stephanie Larpenter said “the girls played hard” and it showed from the opening tip off as the Laker’s defense matched the intensity of Concord Christian Academy on both ends of the court.
Lilli Carlile got Concord Christian Academy on the scoreboard first with a lay up to take an early 2-0 lead then Sunapee answered right back when Brynn Smith dropped in a shot from behind the arc to give Sunapee a 3-2 as both teams were all over the court.
With players on both teams diving for every loose ball, clogging up passing lanes and contesting every shot, Concord Christian Academy managed to score the first four points of the second quarter before Sunapee’s Smith passed to Tschudin for the layup to break the drought. Tschudin scored the rest of her points in the quarter at the free throw line and Miranda Anderson made one of two from the line as Sunapee led at the break 16-15.
The third quarter started with fouls aplenty sending players to the charity stripe. Tschudin got into foul trouble with about two minutes to play in the third and Concord Christian Academy took advantage while she sat on the bench. The Kingsmen stole a number of Laker passes for easy layups and took a 10 point lead going into the final quarter.
Concord Christian Academy opened the fourth quarter with a 3-point shot by Taylor Rioux and increased their lead to 36-21 before Katelyn Claus sank one of two free throws to score Sunapee’s first point of the quarter. Sunapee’s Tschudin sank a 3 of her own but it was not enough as Concord Christian Academy started to play keep away to run down the clock to improve to 7-0 with a 47-27 win.
Afterwards, Coach Larpenter did not think that the final score reflected on how close the game really was.
“She is excited to play them again,” Larpenter said.
Tschudin was the high scorer in the game with 14 points while Concord Christian Academy had three players in double figures.
Sunapee falls to 4-3 and is at Farmington (3-3) on Friday before opening a three-game home stand starting with Epping (2-5) on Tuesday.
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