MANCHESTER — A strong final three quarters propelled the New Boston Lady Tigers to a 60-38 season-opening win over West Union at the Manchester Tip-off Classic on Saturday.

Entering the second period trailing the Lady Dragons 12-11, New Boston would go on to put three scorers in double figures and win the final three quarters 49-26.

“I felt like in the first quarter or so we were a little scattered. They (WU) did a good job of playing the passing lanes which made us throw the ball a little careless,” NB coach Kayla Wiley said, after the game. “I think we finally settled down in that second quarter, and especially in the second half, of taking care of the basketball. And then us hitting shots led to having more of a boost and aggressiveness on defense.”

The Lady Tigers made 20 shots from the field in the win, and shot 86.7-percent (13-of-15) from the free-throw line.

Senior guard Cadence Williams led New Boston with a team-high 23 points, earning Player of the Game honors as awarded by Manchester High School.

Freshman point guard Arenda Gosselin knocked down five three-pointers as part of her 15-point outing in her varsity debut, while senior Dylan O’Rourke scored 10 of her 14 points in the first half.

“We lost our senior point guard last year, 1,000-point scorer. Arenda’s done a great job through our scrimmages and again tonight taking care of the ball. That’s a lot for a freshman — every play she comes over to go over what she does and make sure she’s doing things right,” Wiley said. “Cadence started off slow, but she was getting hands in passing lanes which was leading to opportunities for other players. Second half she got a little hot. Dylan followed around Staten and did a great job, she’s a great player.”

West Union’s Ashlah Staten led the Lady Dragons with 13 points.

New Boston (1-0) travels back to Manchester on Tuesday (Nov. 22) for a non-league game versus the Lady Greyhounds.

“Overall a great team win,” Wiley said. “We did great at the foul line, got in foul trouble early so we had girls come in and play some key minutes, and we rebounded pretty well.”

***

BOX SCORE

New Boston 11 15 11 23 — 60

West Union 12 9 3 14 — 38

NB Scoring

Julie Maynard 0 0-0 0, Arenda Gosselin 5 0-0 15, Cadence Williams 9 3-5 23, Myah Smith 0 0-0 0, Kiana Breech 0 0-0 0, Dylan O’Rourke 4 6-6 14, Brooklyn Boyer 0 0-0 0, Cassie Williams 2 4-4 8; TOTALS: 20 13/15 60; Three-point field goals: 7 (Arenda Gosselin 5, Cadence Williams 2)

WU Scoring

Emily Stapleton 0 2-2 2, Ashlah Staten 5 3-8 13, Nina McCann 0 1-4 1, Payton Stapleton 4 0-2 9, Kenzie Stout 1 0-0 2, Olivia Lewis 3 0-0 7, Weakly 1 0-2 2, Chesnee Ayres 0 0-0 0, Paige Tolle 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 15 6/18 38; Three-point field goals: 2 (Payton Stapleton, Olivia Lewis 1 apiece)

Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved