Milford girls basketball blows past Souhegan

AMHERST – Becca Cleary scored 10 of her game-high 21 points in the first quarter Tuesday night and the Milford High School girls basketball team cruised by Souhegan for a 50-19 win.

Adelle Pitsas added 10 points for the Spartans (4-0), who beat the Sabers for the fourth time in their last five meetings – the first four wins Milford has had in the series. Erin McGuire also had seven points, as the Spartans jumped out to a 13-0 lead and were up 19-3 at the end of the first quarter.

“We’ve been working on our man (defense), so we played it almost the whole game, and I was really impressed by it,” Milford coach Rich Parent said. “I’ve been afraid to let them play man until (Tuesday). In practice, they’ve been getting better and better, and (Tuesday) we let them go at it.”

The defense held Souhegan (2-2) scoreless for more than four minutes to open the first and second half, and combined with Cleary’s shooting, took the Sabers out of the game early.

“It was huge,” Cleary said of the fast start. “We like to start on a run and make a statement, and when we can get out and get a lead, it feels good to get everyone in. It takes the pressure off.

“When we come out here and win by that much, it shows we’re that good, and it’s against a Souhegan team that isn’t that bad. They’re pretty good and they have people who are going to be good.”

Souhegan went in trying to shut down Pitsas and Jess Ryan, who had led the Spartans in scoring during the Nashua North Holiday Classic.

“Becca Cleary killed us,” Souhegan coach Mike Heaney said. “We knew Jess (Ryan) and Adelle (Pitsas) had been leading them, but I thought we contained them as best we could. We talked about Becca being the third option, you want her to shoot more than those two, but she shot lights out.

“Milford couldn’t be more impressive. It’s obvious not only that they’re on a mission to win a state title, but it’s the seniors’ last time they’ll come in here. They sent a message that they’re a force to be reckoned with, and conversely, I thought we were a little deer-in-the-headlights.”

Caitlin Watson led the Sabers with four points, which all came in the fourth quarter, while Hannah Chick, Emma White and Juliane Donohue had three points apiece.

The game was part of the second Tony’s Games, an event put on by Souhegan to honor the memory of Tony Barksdale, a Souhegan graduate and former basketball player who died in 2013. Money from T-shirt sales and the concession stand will be part of the Tony Barksdale Memorial Scholarship.

Players from both teams wore the shirts during warmups, and the Milford players had yellow ribbons on their wrists with the “TB2” written on them.

“The thing I can’t get over, is that I knew the Milford kids would be wearing the shirts, but to wear the bracelets around their wrists, it just tells you a lot about them,” Heaney said. “They’re first-class kids. Three of them gave me hugs after their introductions, but when they get over the black lines, they punch you in the mouth. Nobody respects that more than me.”