Jaguars Maul Mallards, 43-16

BERLIN- Worcester Prep’s girls’ varsity basketball team lost a tough one this week, falling to visiting Salisbury Christian, 43-16, on Monday at home.

The Mallards played well for the most part on Monday, but was clearly overmatched by the much bigger Jaguars. Worcester did many things right during the blowout loss but didn’t shoot well and didn’t get many second chances. The Mallards passed well, moved without the ball well, always seemed to find the extra pass and got some good looks at the basket, but just couldn’t finish as the game slipped away from them.

Worcester hung with Salisbury Christian early and trailed 8-4 with just over two minutes left in the first quarter, but the Jaguars steadily pulled away after that. The score was 15-4 at the end of the first as buckets were few and far between for Worcester. In the second quarter, Salisbury Christian extended its lead to 19-4 before Worcester’s Sophie Brennan got a steal and a fast break lay-up for the Mallards first points in nearly eight minutes to cut the lead to 19-6.

In the third quarter, Salisbury Christian extended its lead to 35-6 before Molly Marshall scored on a lay-up off an inbound pass with just under four minutes left in the period to cut the lead to 35-8. In the fourth quarter, Worcester’s Hannah Showell hit a long jumper from the corner to cut the lead to 39-10 and put the Mallards into double digits. Late in the game, Worcester got a flurry of scores including a steal and a fast-break lay-up by Frankie Willing to cut the lead to 41-12. Less than a minute later, Marshall scored on a rebound and a put-back to make it 41-14. Worcester’s Cecily Sass completed the Mallards’ mini-run with a jumper with 56 seconds left to make it 41-16, but the damage had been done and the game ended with a Salisbury Christian 43-16 win.