White reaches 1,000 points, but Souhegan girls lose to Coe-Brown

AMHERST – When Jane White stepped to the free throw line, the Souhegan High School senior knew she was three points away from basketball history.

Hard not to know when a classmate was keeping track in the stands with a dry erase board.

White had been fouled on a 3-point attempt late in the third quarter and was heading to the line needing three points to reach 1,000 for her career. There were nerves – that happens when someone is publicly tallying your scoring – but White has succeed in the face of greater pressure before.

“I’m kind of used to the pressure situation,” she said. “For some reason, I do better under pressure. I knew I had three left. Coach told me that when I had three left, I could shoot from kind of far out. I just pulled up and luckily I got fouled.”

After sinking the first two to the approval of the Souhegan crowd, White calmly shot the third free throw. The ball bounced on the rim and went down, and the game was stopped for a moment to honor the accomplishment – but not for long.

“I don’t want all the attention on me,” White said. “I just wanted to get back to playing, especially since we had the lead at that point.”

The free throws gave the Sabers a 37-33 lead and Souhegan was up by three points going into the fourth quarter. But a quick 10-0 run by Coe-Brown Northwood Academy swung momentum in favor of the visitors, and the Bears held on for a 58-52 win Friday night over Souhegan.

White finished with 16 points, 11 of which came from the free throw line, in her first game back after injuring an ankle on Dec. 29. While she struggled from the field, the ankle was only partially to blame.

“The thing I was worried about coming into this game was Dave (Hartnett),” Souhegan coach Jeremy Faulkner said of the Coe-Brown coach. “He’s a phenomenal coach. He had a great game plan. His team feeds off him and they buy into the system. They did a great job shutting down Jane with a box-and-one (defense).”

Mickenzie Larivee had 14 points for the Sabers (3-2 in Division II), while Souhegan also got 12 points from Ashley Tighe, who filled in at point guard when White was injured, and on Friday, after she picked up three fouls in the first quarter.

“When Jane had to sit, the flow of the game was the way I want it,” Faulkner said. “Ashley created stuff for open wings. In the fast break, she was able to hit the trailing post player. I think she stepped up when Jane had to go out with that third foul. That’s what gave us the lead. Other people are not stepping up.”

It showed down the stretch. Coe-Brown’s Allura LeBlanc scored eight of her game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter, as the Bears (5-2) outscored Souhegan 24-15 in the final eight minutes. Several of LeBlanc’s opportunities came after she cleaned up the offensive glass, and on the other end, Souhegan struggled to get its offense going.

The Sabers made it a two-point game on a layup by Larivee with 4:15 remaining, but could get no closer.

“The girls need to step up,” Faulkner said. “It’s time to stop picking and choosing when we want to play. We have to come out and play every single game. Everybody is going to give us their best.”

One of the problems for Souhegan, which went undefeated a year ago while winning the Division II title, is that the players are thinking too far ahead, according to White.

“We’re not focusing on the game in front of us,” she said. “I think that’s one of our biggest faults. We’re focusing on the future. We need to focus on Monday, we have Con-Val. We need to play that game before we can get to the next one.”

That might be easier said for the Sabers. After playing the Cougars Monday, Souhegan will host Hollis Brookline (7-0) on Wednesday and play at Portsmouth (6-1) on Friday.