SOUTH DEERFIELD — The Frontier Regional girls basketball team surrendered a nine-point halftime lead in the second half as the Red Hawks fell, 38-29, to Mahar Regional on Tuesday night.
The Red Hawks led 21-12 at halftime, but were held to just two points in the third quarter as the Senators went on a 17-0 run. Frontier scored its only basket of the quarter with 30 seconds remaining.
The game was still within Frontier’s reach heading into the last quarter, as the Red Hawks trailed 29-23. However, Mahar stretched its lead to 36-23 before the Red Hawks scored their first basket at the 2:30 mark in the fourth.
Mahar’s utilized a full-court press for the entire game and it proved to be the difference as it created 18 second-half turnovers. There was one stretch where six consecutive offensive possessions resulted in turnovers for the Red Hawks.
“Their press and toughness really created a lot of turnovers on our part,” Frontier coach Marty Sanderson said. “That press really affected us and took us out of our game.”
Frontier handled the press in the first half.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Sanderson said. “I thought we played a decent first half, but (Mahar) really came out at the end of the first and took it to us in the second half.”
The turnovers and missed shots on the offensive end affected Frontier’s defensive strategy, allowing for open shots and easy buckets for Mahar.
“If (Mahar) had to play against our half-court defense, they probably would have struggle,” Sanderson said. “There was no half-court defense on our part. Everything was in transition, and that is what really hurt us. We can’t play that way.”
Sanderson was disappointed with his team’s lack of drive in the second half.
“We weren’t very tough mentally or physically,” he said. “We really didn’t show the resiliency we needed to show in that second half. We’ve showed resiliency over the course of the year. That’s not our M.O. usually, but tonight it was.”
Senior Ella Deane paced Frontier with 11 points.
Next up for Frontier is its first postseason matchup in the Division 3 playoffs. Seeds for the Western Massachusetts Tournaments will be announced Saturday at noon at Springfield Central.