JAY – The zone defense is something Dennis Rice doesn’t like to use too often. His Boothbay girls’ basketball team typically plays a man-to-man style and saves the use of the dreaded zone for those special occasions.

Monday apparently seemed like the perfect day to dust off the zone, especially against Jay. The Seahawks packed in their defenders and shut down the Tigers in a 57-47 win.

“I’m not a zone person, but sometimes you’ve got to use that nasty thing,” said Rice. “That’s what we did today, and we did use it effectively. It did take their point guard (Kaylie DeMillo) out of the equation. She’s a great point guard. She can penetrate, shoot and dish and that’s what we had to stop.”

In a game that was within five points for most of the afternoon, the zone stymied the Tigers down the stretch. Though Jay got back-to-back baskets by Sara Fetterhoff and Heather Johnson to get within 45-43 with 4:16 left, it was the only offensive surge the Tigers had in the final quarter. Jay didn’t score again until late as the Seahawks pulled away.

“If we certainly could shoot the ball that wouldn’t be a problem,” said Jay coach Chris Bessey of the zone. “We had some good looks. That’s the problem with a zone, if you’re not shooting well. You get an open look and it’s a good shot, and you take it and it doesn’t go in.”

With Boothbay sealing off the inside, Jay was forced to survive on the outside shooting of DeMillo and Johnson. The Tigers shot 5-for-15 in the final quarter, two of those baskets came in the final 30 seconds.

“Time and time again we had to go against that set zone,” said Bessey. “That makes it hard especially when you don’t have great size. When you don’t have size, it’s hard to pound the ball inside against a zone. You have to work the ball and try to get the open shot.”

Not helping Jay’s cause was its defensive play. The Tigers could not force many turnovers, which took away Jay’s hopes of scoring in transition.

Though both teams were plagued by foul problems, Boothbay received some quality minutes from a young squad already minus point guard Kylie Higgins. Alacia Brown led the Seahawks (8-5) with 15 points while Kayley Gallagher had 11. Kaitlin Garrett added 10 while Lauren Andrews added eight.

“This is a big win,” said Rice. “We knew somewhere along the line we knew we had to grab a big game, and this was a big game.”

Jay (10-3) was led by DeMillo’s 17 points and Johnson’s 13.

Entering the final quarter, Boothbay was only up 39-36. Baskets by Megan Closson, Nichole Williams and Gallagher got the Seahawks off to a quick start, but a Johnson 3-pointer kept Jay within reach. After a Fetterhoff hoop off the offensive glass and a jumper from Johnson, the Tigers were trailing by two, but Jay wouldn’t score another point for nearly four minutes. Boothbay went on a 10-0 run, with six points coming off free throws.

“One thing we haven’t been doing and we did well today is we penetrated the ball inside,” said Rice. “We needed to do that. We needed to move the defenders, and we haven’t been doing that. We just kind of made up our minds that we had to start running the offense the way we know how to run it.”

[email protected]