Wilton-Lyndeborough girls knock off Pittsfield

WILTON – The Wilton-Lyndeborough girls basketball team picked up its second win of the season Friday night against Pittsfield.

But just because the Warriors pulled out a 39-23 victory over the Panthers, doesn’t mean they’ve got everything together yet.

“Our press worked pretty well,” W-L coach Denny Claire said. “We should have dominated underneath and we should have got the ball in the post more. We’re not hanging on to the ball. We’ve got a long ways to go.”

After opening the Division IV season with a win over Sunapee last Friday, Claire’s team lost a winnable game at Hinsdale on Monday before Friday’s victory. Looking at how the Warriors played in each game has him thinking that maybe the players are matching the level of their opponent.

“(Pittsfield) slowed it down with us,” he said. “We’ve got Derryfield next. I’m hoping we play up to the team that we play.”

Kalie Randlett led W-L (2-1) with eight points, all of which came in a four-minute stretch early in the second quarter. Brittany Tyler added seven points and Alex Bosquet chipped in six, as eight of the 11 players who got on the floor for the Warriors scored.

Crystal Lively scored seven points and Jen Tyrell had six to lead Pittsfield (1-2), which was playing without one of its captains, Colleen Corliss.

The Warriors played most of the game with the lead – the Panthers had a 2-1 advantage in the first quarter – which allowed Claire to make substitutions in shifts, bringing in his second five halfway through each quarter.

“I’m trying to play 10 girls,” he said. “Right now, I’m playing seniors in one group and next year’s team in the other group. We’re doing it now, but it’s going to change.”

Each group had moments where it looked good, and each group had some not-so-great moments as well.

Randlett gave the Warriors a 13-2 lead midway through the second quarter by scoring eight straight points. But the W-L offense stalled when the second group came in and the lead was 14-8 at halftime.

W-L stretched it to a 22-8 lead in the third quarter on two layups by Ally Jenkerson and a basket each from Bosquet and Liza Roy. Pittsfield cut the lead down to 13 a few times in the second half, and even got as close as 12 late in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough.

“We had so many opportunities today that we didn’t take advantage of,” Claire said. “We stole the ball umpteen times today and didn’t score off them. We’re just trying to get better every game. I think we played better the first game than the second game and the third one was in between the two.”

W-L will try to improve when it hosts Derryfield on Tuesday at 7 p.m.