WEST CANAAN — About all Mascoma High girls basketball coach Walt Hammond and Newport counterpart Ross Dole know through two games with their teams is they don’t know much at all.
Hammond’s Royals are small, basically a team of guards that will see a lot of zone defenses this winter. Dole’s Tigers aren’t afraid of anyone, but a lack of depth — exacerbated by a key injury absence — may challenge them in the long term.
The combination created a wild back-and-forth affair on Tuesday night at Mascoma’s Kehoe Gymnasium. On an evening of multiple ties and lead changes, Eliza Bates took a Riely Skarin pass and hit an eight-foot jumper with 7.3 seconds left in regulation from the right corner for a 39-37 Newport victory.
“We’re very fast, but we don’t know yet the pace that we should be going at,” Dole said. “It’s a learning process. I told them tonight, ‘We need to take these games one at a time, and we need to build our team. It’s not about wins and losses right now. It’s about building our team.’ ”
Bates and Tiger teammate Greysan Beaulieu shared game-high scoring honors with 12 points apiece. Senior Michaela Dowd paced the Royals (1-1) with eight points.
“I know we’ve got to learn to play harder,” said Hammond, whose squad opened with a 64-42 win at Campbell on Friday. “Tonight, we just didn’t play like the team we were the other night. If we don’t do that, then you’re going to lose basketball games. That’s just the bottom line.”
The rivals spent the first 2½ minutes racing up and down the floor without putting the ball in the hoop. Newport finally did on a nice fast-break conversion, Alexis Quimby finishing a Beaulieu feed to break the ice. Skarin followed with a jumper on the Tigers’ next possession for a 4-0 lead.
Hammond brought in sophomore Liberti LaCasse shortly after that. The lanky sophomore secured a pair of quick offensive rebounds, and her steal and pass found an open Nikki Williams for the Royals’ first hoop with 3:35 left in the opening quarter.
Newport — which is hoping to get senior guard Alyssa Burr back from a yearlong knee injury after Christmas — took a 10-5 lead into the second period and nearly pushed it to double digits as the Royals struggled to score. After Jordan Henry’s turnaround hoop opened the stanza for Mascoma, Bates hit a bunny and Skarin sank two free throws around a Brianna Withington 3-pointer for a 16-10 cushion.
The Royals finally closed the gap as halftime beckoned, successfully forcing Newport into Mascoma’s preferred up-tempo pace. The hosts scored six of the half’s final eight points, all in transition, to stay within 18-16 at the break.
“We had a couple of glimpses of the team that we are,” Hammond said.
Mascoma’s speed seemed to have an effect on Newport as the third quarter raced along. The Tigers went more than four minutes without a basket during the stretch, and the Royals eventually caught up on two Madisun LaCasse free throws with 1:33 left in the third, tying the game at 25-25.
From that point to the final buzzer, the Tigers and Royals tied twice more and exchanged the lead four more times.
A Henry bucket gave Mascoma its largest lead at 31-27 with 7:15 left in the game. Newport had the deadlock 70 seconds later, eventually taking a 35-31 advantage on a Beaulieu 3-pointer with 4:50 to go.
Mascoma reeled off five straight points for 36-35 lead on a Williams wing jumper with 3:39 left. The Tigers took the lead back on a Bates lay-up, and a Henry free throw tied the contest one last time at 37-37 with 1:02 remaining.
Beaulieu and Bates worked the ball around the Mascoma defense until Dole called his last timeout with 25.1 seconds left. Skarin worked the ball to Bates just past the right block, and the junior swished her shot.
Dowd’s attempt at a tying coast-to-coast drive missed with 1.3 ticks left, and Beaulieu stole an ensuing inbound pass to lock down the win.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.