The Bellows Falls Union High School girls’ basketball team recently
hosted Mill River and looking for their second win of the year,
but Mill River had other ieas, taking an early first quarter
lead and never looking back in an easy but low-scoring, 39-17 win over
the Lady Terriers.
    However, this one was close early, as the Bellows Falls played a
solid 2-3 zone defense that helped keep the much bigger Mill River front line
out of the paint. Lady Minutemen senior guard Chelsea Bagly scored two
early baskets on drives to the hoop and junior forward Alyssa Turgeon
scored on a put-back for an early 8-point lead, before Bellows Falls
sophomore Enny Mustapha scored two baskets of her own on the inside, one
on a post-up move and the other off an offensive rebound.
    Because of good inside defense by BF, the Minutemen started swinging
the ball back outside for 3-pointers from senior captain Amanda Ley and
Bagley to extend the lead to 14-6 after a lay up from up-and-coming BF freshman
Emily Dufault halfway through the quarter.
    When Dufault had to sit down with her second foul and then
Mustapha with her second infraction, Mill River started hitting their free throws
and Bellows Falls started to lose the battle in the paint. “Emily
and Enny having to sit down with foul trouble early really hurt us
under the boards,” Bellows Falls coach Justin Aube would later say after
the game. “We started losing the rebound battle after we got in foul
trouble.”
    The Lady Minutemen continued to move the ball around well, taking jumpers
when they were there, and dumping it inside when the Terriers stretched their
defense. But after a Kya Coursen lay up with a minute left, the Lady
Terriers were alive going into the second quarter trailing 12.