Derryfield girls basketball wraps up regular season with win over Lebanon

MANCHESTER - When the regular season schedule first came out, the Derryfield School girls basketball team was supposed to play its last game on Tuesday.

Had that happened, the Cougars would have gone 11 days between their last regular-season game and their first playoff game, but fortunately for them, Mother Nature got involved.

Derryfield instead wrapped up the regular season Thursday against Lebanon, as the Cougars looked to be ready for the postseason, as they used a 21-0 run in the first half to take control of the game and rolled to a 49-24 win over the Raiders in a Division II game.

Ella LaFlamme led Derryfield (16-2) with 12 points while Anna Fazelat recorded 11 points and Reagan Ayers came off the bench to finish in double figures with 10 points. Ayers and Holly Dufoe (eight points) each had a pair of 3-pointers as the Cougars won their ninth game in a row.

“When we distribute the ball to each other, it makes us really hard to guard,” Derryfield coach Courtney Cheetham said. “There were moments (Thursday) where I felt like we had good ball movement, and then it created some really good opportunities. It just makes it hard defensively to guard.”

All of that was set up by Derryfield's defense, which forced Lebanon (7-10) into six turnovers and held the Raiders scoreless for more than 10 minutes over part of the first and second quarters.

“For the most part, I thought we did a pretty good job knowing what they were in, shutting down their options and making it hard for them to score,” Cheetham said. “I thought that was great.”

It was an 8-6 Derryfield lead with 3:30 remaining in the first quarter when the Cougars started their run. Lebanon got a 3-pointer from Anella Marsh and a basket from Grace Billings in the final minute of the half to end the drought.

“They’re just so hard to deal with,” Lebanon coach Jeff Sowa said of Derryfield. “We had moments defensively where we were sticking to the game plan, and really working and forced them to take tough shots. But they made some deep 3s and they’re a lot to handle. I think we gave it our best effort and everything else is out of our control.”

Billings led the Raiders with six points and Marsh finished with five, as eight players scored for Lebanon.

The win wraps up the No. 2 seed in D2 and a first-round bye for Derryfield, which will host a quarterfinal game on March 7.

“We returned one kid from our starting lineup,” Cheetham said. “I’m just really, really proud of what this group did. They just show every day and try to be the best they can be in all areas of their life. They want to be good people, they want to be good students and they want to be good athletes. I think that to me is what makes it most impressive.”

Lebanon still has one game remaining, another road contest at Bow on Friday, and the Raiders will likely need a win to clinch a playoff spot.