The opportunities were definitely there for the Joel Barlow High girls varsity basketball team in its game against Bethel last week.
The host Falcons managed plenty of shots on Wednesday, Jan. 17. Relatively few hit the mark in a 47-31 loss.
“We just didn’t finish,” said Barlow head coach Joe Carollo, whose team had many good looks at the basket. “You can’t beat a good team by missing that many shots.”
Despite shooting less than 30% from the field for the first quarter, the Falcons kept things close early in the night. The Wildcats were adept at shooting from the perimeter, sinking eight three-point shots on the night, the first coming from Emma Hoedenpohl to give her team an early advantage.
Barlow had to wait until 3:22 remained in the first quarter to get on the scoreboard, as Avery Vanderberg sank a free throw to make it 5-1. It also marked the beginning of an 8-0 run for the hosts and a strong finish to the quarter.
She followed with a field goal less than a minute later and Barlow tied it up when Mia Tartaglia drove the lane for the score with 1:35 left. Fouled on the play, she added a free throw to give her team the lead and Vanderburg scored off an in-bounds pass down low with five seconds left to make it 8-5.
Bethel, however, did not wait long to answer, outscoring the Falcons by a better than 5-1 margin for the rest of the half. Aiden Gill’s free throw with 7:07 left in the half marked the beginning of an 11-0 scoring run that also featured three-pointers by Hoedenpohl, Summer Wish and Hayden Chrezeinik. Mackenzie Sickinger’s free throw with 2:45 left stopped the run but Barlow would trail 18-9 at the half.
Although the Falcons’ offense picked up a bit once the second half got underway, Bethel continued to pull further out of reach. A five-point run got Barlow within ten (26-16) with 4:34 left in the third quarter, only to have the visitors counter with eight of their own, capped off by another three-pointer by Wish as the Falcons eventually trailed 34-17 going into the final frame.
Offensively, the Falcons would save their best performance for the last quarter, helped in part by some accurate three-point shooting by Agnes Davis. Strong rebounding by Sarah Ashgar also helped, as the Falcons’ outscored their opponent 14-13 the rest of the night but ultimately came up short.
Davis led Barlow in scoring with nine points, all on three-pointers. Vanderburg was next with eight and Tartaglia sank seven. Ashgar scored six and Sickinger sank one free throw.
Now 5-6 overall, Barlow has already matched its wins total from last season. It still needs three more wins to qualify for the state tournament.
“We’re not where we want to be yet,” said Carollo. “We have to get there soon.”
Barlow visits Notre Dame of Fairfield on Tuesday at 6 p.m., is at Immaculate in Danbury on Thursday at 7 p.m. and is at Newtown on Monday at 7 p.m.
