Lady Raiders Basketball Falls Behind Early, Can't Catch Lexington

girls’ basketball team is developing a late-season habit its coach can’t quite explain.

For the second straight night on Friday, the Red Raiders fell behind early, spotting Lexington High School a 12-point lead after the first quarter of their Middlesex League matchup. And though the Red Raiders came to life after that, it wasn’t enough as the Minutemen held on for a 55-46 victory.

Melrose coach Robert Ferrante said the game against Lexington was a near repeat of what happened one night before against Belmont High School.

“Unfortunately, it’s getting to be a little bit of a habit,” he said. “The same thing happened last night against Belmont. Not to make excuses, but it’s happened two games in a row.”

For Lexington, sophomore Kristyn Kajko provided the spark from the opening tip, scoring nine of her game-high 20 points in the opening period. She sank three field goals, including a 3-pointer, and added two foul shots.

Melrose failed to crack the scoreboard until more than half the quarter had expired. Sophomore Brooke Bell ended the drought, and Lexington’s 13-0 run, with a layup.

“It’s definitely something we want to avoid,” Ferrante said, “but unfortunately we got hit with it again tonight.”

However, the first also served as a prime example of how one quarter can affect an entire game. Lexington and Melrose played neck-and-neck through the next two quarters, matching each other with 21-points apiece – 12 points apiece in the second quarter and nine each in the third.

But after falling behind by double-digits in the first quarter, the Red Raiders needed to do more than just match Lexington. They accomplished that to start the fourth quarter, thanks to some hot shooting.

Junior tri-captain Lia Limone (tied team-high eight points) sank two 3-pointers in the fourth, as Melrose put up 20 points to nearly match their total in the first three quarter. Bell (eight points) added a pair of field goals.

That helped the Red Raiders climb to within six points at 48-42 with a little more than 2 minutes remaining. It was as close as they had been since trailing 6-0 in the first quarter.

“There were a lot more free throws and they started hitting some 3s, so that kind of kept them around and changed the dynamic (of the game),” Lexington coach Steve Solly said of the fourth quarter, in which Melrose outscored Lexington by six points. “So, that’s what that change was, tempo.”

While Melrose’s offense came to life, its defense continued to struggle to contain the Minutemen, especially junior point guard Cat Costello. She was held to two points in the first quarter, but started attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line after halftime.

In fact, eight of Costello’s 14 points came at the line. She was 4-of-8 at the line in fourth quarter.

That proved enough for the Minutemen to hold on for the win.

“We were just matching Lexington’s intensity as the game progressed,” Ferrante said. “We didn’t do that at the beginning of the game, but as the game moved along we were kind of hanging around and realized that if we picked up the intensity on both ends we’d have a chance to get back in the game.”