RUMFORD – When Liz Rosenberg hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key in the closing seconds of the opening half, it was a sign of good things to come for the Telstar Rebels.
Telstar’s late flurry produced a four-point lead, and the Rebels offense didn’t skip a bit after the intermission in a 45-33 victory Monday.
“Nothing was falling in the first half,” said sophomore guard Josie Reiss. “Liz doesn’t usually hit 3-pointers. So when she did that, that was a big boost for us.”
That shot gave Telstar a 17-13 lead at the half. Though both teams struggled to get things going offensively in the first half, Rosenberg’s shot may have lit the spark Telstar needed. The Rebels shot 5-for-9 in the third and 8-for-12 in the second half.
“I think in the first half, our shots weren’t falling,” said Telstar coach Kelly Dole. “We were getting some good shots, but they just weren’t going in. At halftime, we talked about thinking that they will go in in the second half. They started to and that got us into the flow of things. I think the girls ran the offense beautifully and mixed it up real good.”
The Rebels (11-5) opened the second half with a basket by Kelsey Dole and a 3 from Bailey Davis for a 22-13 lead. Mountain Valley (7-8) made a run to get within 22-21 midway through the quarter. Tanya Martin hit a jumper, Kristen Arsenault hit a pair of free throws and Christie Volkernick scored on a rebound, but that was the most consistency the Falcons managed in the second half.
“We are not a big spurt team to begin with,” said Mountain Valley coach Wade McLaughlin. “We can’t spot teams eight or 10 points. We did that at the start of that third quarter.”
After Bailey Davis and Vanessa Cayer traded hoops, Telstar got a three-point play by Reiss with 1:34 left. After a Tanya Martin bucket, Jillian Kimball and Dole scored to build a 31-25 advantage. A Dole 3-pointer to start the fourth sent the cushion to nine, and the Falcons couldn’t get any closer than eight the rest of the way.
“We just calmed down,” said Reiss, who was celebrating her birthday Monday. “We have a lot of seniors. So they knew what they were doing.”
Dole led Telstar with 12 while Reiss added 11. Bailey Davis chipped in nine. The Rebels held the Falcons’ top scorer, Kristen Arsenault, to 13 points. Cayer finished with eight.
“They did the things that we had keyed on before the game,” said Dole. “Obviously, Kristen Arsenault is a big force. We wanted to stop her. We only wanted to give up one shot, and we did that.”
The Falcons took four shots from the floor in the first 6:20 of the fourth quarter, 2-for-8 overall. Mountain Valley also struggled from the foul line.
“We went 8-for-22 from the foul line,” said McLaughlin. “We’ve had two losses in our last six games, and we’ve been a combined 20-for-49. You can’t go 40 percent from the foul line and expect to beat anybody.”
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