Coe-Brown girls basketball stays undefeated with late surge past Milford

MILFORD – When it was all over Thursday night, Joe Vachon had exactly what he wanted.

Vachon got a a well-played game from his Coe-Brown Academy girls basketball team, as the Bears were able to wear down a shorthanded Milford squad, and pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 53-41 win.

Jennifer Schlim led the way with 17 points for the Bears (13-0), while Abigail Ahern scored all 12 of her points in the second half after sitting most of the first in foul trouble. Sarah Curtin was also in double figures for Coe-Brown with 10 points, as the Bears went on a 10-0 run late in the third and into the fourth quarter.

“I’m ecstatic I get to leave Milford with a win,” Vachon said. “This is a tough place to play. (Milford) was completely ready for us and we knew it was going to be a fight.

“The first half was rough and it took us a bit to adjust. I think our depth is really what helped. When we got in foul trouble in the first half, we had girls come in. We had two or three of our main girls sitting in the first half and coming out with fresh legs in the second half really helped.”

Already down one starter due to a season-ending injury, Milford (11-1) was without senior Becca Cleary for the second straight game, and then had two other starters get into foul trouble early in the second quarter. At times, the Spartans had two, and occasionally three, players with little, or no, varsity experience on the court.

Despite that, Milford held a one-point lead at halftime and responded to Coe-Brown’s late run to cut the lead to six points with 2:45 to play.

“It is amazing what we were just able to accomplish,” Milford coach Rich Parent said. “They gave everything they had against the best team in the league. To be honest, I couldn’t more proud.”

Jessica Ryan led Milford with 14 points, including three 3-pointers, but was shadowed by Curtin for most of the game. Adelle Pitsas added 12 points and Kaitlyn Matthews finished with eight.

“We can get better and we can do better, and they know that,” Parent said. “They don’t feel they gave their best. To be up one point at halftime, against this team, it makes us feel … we had JV players in there that we didn’t expect to have play. It was a great learning experience.”

Both teams got into foul trouble in the first half, as a total of 23 fouls were called and the teams combined to shoot 26 free throws. The lead changed 12 times in the first 16 minutes and neither team led by more than three points, as the Spartans took a 25-24 lead into halftime.

Milford was able to push the lead to three, 29-26 with 6:27 left in the third quarter, but the Spartans struggled on offense after that, going scoreless for more than five minutes. Coe-Brown was able to do just enough at the other end, scoring six straight points to take a 32-29 lead.

A basket by Milford’s Ari Devine made it a one-point game with 56.5 seconds left in the quarter, but Deborah Peabody scored on a putback with eight seconds left, starting the Bears on their 10-0 run. That spurt put Coe-Brown up 42-31 with 5:32 remaining in the game.

Coe-Brown took its largest lead of the night, 45-33, on a jumper by Schlim with 3:45 to play but Milford went on a 6-0 run in the next minute to cut the lead in half on a basket by Pitsas. But the Bears answered with a three-point play by Schlim and Coe-Brown made just enough free throws to keep Milford at bay.

“I told their coach, and I told the girls, we should be there at the end because they’re the best team we’ve played so far,” Vachon said. “The girls were a little disappointed that their big girl (Cleary) was down because we wanted to take them on.

“They’re going to be tough to beat. I hope I get to see them again because they’re probably going to be at the place we need them to be.”

Parent shared the sentiment, hoping that the teams might meet again, and that maybe the loss would be good for Milford.

“You never like to lose, but every one of those girls said, if we’re going to lose a game, this is the one we want to lose,” he said. “We can grow from this and hopefully we get to play this game again in a different environment with a different physical ability, at least from our standpoint.”