By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

SOUTH PARIS – It didn’t take long to realize it just wasn’t their night.

The Oxford Hills girls’ basketball team fell behind 6-0 early. Even that margin proved difficult to erase Tuesday in a 64-30 loss to Skowhegan.

It was a night where everything went wrong. The Vikings were plagued by foul trouble, turnovers and an offense out of sync. Once the Indians got the offense in gear in the second half, they put the game away.

“We’ve had four games this year where we scored 40 points in the first half,” said Oxford Hills coach Craig Jipson. “To come out and score 14, the kids just got way down on themselves, and I didn’t do a good job keeping them picked up. That’s my responsibility. I told them that there have been three or four games that we’ve had 25 points in a quarter. For whatever reason, they just didn’t believe tonight.”

Though the defense was solid, the offense couldn’t keep Oxford Hills (10-3) in the game. After falling behind 13-4 in the first, Skowhegan (12-1) missed its first nine shots of the second and shot just 1-for-11. The Indians hit enough free throws to keep the lead intact.

“We played great “D” in the first half,” said Jipson. “We gave up 23 points, but when you go through a long time without scoring, you can only battle defensively for so long. After awhile, they think what good is it doing?”

The Vikings turned the ball over 16 times in the first half and 26 times overall. Kelsey Pelletier and Annie Foster were in foul trouble the entire game. Oxford Hills also struggled to get its outside shooting going. The Vikings didn’t hit one 3-pointer in the game and had few quality opportunities. Pelletier led the Vikings with six points.

“We work hard in practice every day on closing out on shooters,” said Skowhegan coach Heath Cowan. “I don’t think they had a shot that wasn’t a contested shot.”

Skowhegan had a 23-14 lead by halftime and then went 6-for-6 to start the third and shot 9-for-13 in the quarter. Bethaney Sevey led the Indians with 20 while Megan Franklin had 12. Zara Saydjari and Nicole Paradis each had 10. An 11-4 run opened a 16-point lead in the third. The Vikings only got as close as 12 the rest of the way.

“We did a nice job in the second half,” said Cowan. “It was an outstanding effort, top to bottom. Every kid that touched the floor did an amazing job. That was as good a half as we’ve played this season.”