East Hampton Loses by 31 to Old Saybrook

East Hampton began the new year with the same problem that plagued the team in 2011. Scoring.

The Bellringers didn’t score a basket for nearly seven minutes in the first quarter, then suffered a similar drought in the second as Old Saybrook built a 29-10 first-half lead then cruised to a 52-21 victory in a girls’ basketball game Tuesday night in East Hampton.

Scoring has been an issue for East Hampton (2-6) most of the season and Tuesday night was no different. Old Saybrook (6-2) built a 15-1 lead behind seven points by Kelly Ratchford before Klaudia Komarnicka finally scored with about a minute to go in the quarter on a nice drive to the basket after East Hampton beat Old Saybrook’s press. Sarah Denihan followed that with a basket off a missed free throw by Komarnicka to trim the deficit to 15-5.

But Old Saybrook, a Shoreline Conference dark horse this season, had an answer. Ratchford, who led all scorers with 18 points, was left all alone on the wing for a three-pointer and an 18-5 lead.

Komarnicka added a 10-footer after rebounding her own miss to send East Hampton into the second quarter with some momentum, and the Rams left open a window of opportunity.

Kayla McAvoy, a first team All-Shoreline last season, scored quickly to start the quarter to put Old Saybrook up, 20-7. For the next three and a half minutes though, the Rams didn’t score, giving the Bellringers a chance to cut into the lead. The only trouble was, East Hampton didn’t score either. Paige Trabucchi’s basket with just over four minutes remaining in the half put Old Saybrook up, 22-7. Trabucchi (10 points) added a long two and Ratchford hit another of her four three-pointers on the night for a 9-0 run and a 27-7 Rams lead. East Hampton scored with 1:30 left in the half on Morgan Langenfeld’s three, the only second-quarter points by the Bellringers.

Old Saybrook coach Steve Woods likes where his team is at now that his players are healthy following some soccer injuries.

“Once we came together collectively, we’ve been playing better. I like what we’re doing,” Woods said. “We have a long way to go before we are where we want to be. If we continue to work hard, we can do some more things. We’ll be competitive, for sure.”

After averaging 44 points in its last two games, it was looking as though the offense was beginning to click for East Hampton. Despite continuing to create good shots and showing good ball movement against Old Saybrook, the 21 points equaled a season low.

“We’re just in a situation at the moment where scoring a basket, scoring points is such an odyssey that I think now there is an element of it that is in everyone’s head regarding whether they can, whether they can’t,” East Hampton coach Shaun Russell said. “I thought we got really good shots throughout. I don’t recall us forcing shots or taking shots we didn’t have good rebounding balance … and [we] missed several layups. You have to credit a lot of that to your opponent. You can’t just run around and say if we make shots we win. It’s not that simple.”

East Hampton’s troubles on offense have been magnified by its equally worrisome woes on defense of late. The Bellringers started the season with good defensive efforts but have allowed 50 or more points in five of their last six games.

“For us, above and beyond the scoring, we have to do a better job over the course of 32 minutes of playing defense,” Russell said. “We can not win games in the 50s. It’s just not going to happen with this particular group of kids. We’ve got to find a way to get the games played in the 30s and then we can give ourselves a chance to scrap it out and maybe get enough points to be there at the end where you can make a play or two to make a difference. So that’s probably more important at this point than the offense and seeing the ball go through the hoop.

“Defense has got to tighten up. Offense is going to happen, to what extent I have no idea, but it can not continue like this. You can not score 20 points a night and think you are going to be in any games.”

Russell, however, continues to see positives from his team.

“I can find some good in this out of certain kids,” he said. “I’m not going to stand here and tell you I’m pleased with how we played because I’m not pleased with how we played, but this is not a complete disaster. I hope the kids are hearing me when I’m letting them know there are some things that are moving forward and there is some better basketball being played and we can only hope we get more of it, quickly. … They did give 32 minutes of real good effort, there was no begging them to play hard. That’s the best game Leah Coughlin played all year. I thought she made a big turn tonight, a big step in the right direction, which we’re going to need. We continue to get some quality contributions from some of the younger kids off the bench. The possessions for the most part are getting a little longer. The passing is catching up. I continue to see good signs from individual players. I continue to see snippets from the group.”

Denihan and Komarnicka led East Hampton with six points each.

Eight games into the season, there is time for the Bellringers to turn their season around. For that to happen, it will have to be as a team.

“I have no complaints with the kids,” Russell said. “I told them tonight, this is not a pointing the finger issue, this is a pulling together issue. This is a decide together, make a stand, this is how it’s going to happen from here on out, everyone is in together, and this is how it goes. We’ve got to take that stance with ourselves first. The opponents are not important at this point. We’ve got to worry about us. Do what we got to do, the way we got to do it, the best we can do it, every night.”

East Hampton will next play at North Branford on Friday night. The Thunderbirds won their first game of the season Tuesday night, defeating Westbrook, 41-21.

Also on Tuesday, Hyde surprised Portland 44-40 behind 15 points from Trayneice Mims. Meaghan Rodgers led the Highlanders (7-3) with 17 points.