Horace Mann just couldn’t get over the hump.
The young Lions were right there, within five points of Poly Prep with 4:20 left. But Mann is still learning how to close out games and the visiting Blue Devils finished this one – a 67-52 Lions loss Wednesday in Ivy League girls basketball – on a 13-2 run.
“I think we just need to finish,” Horace Mann coach Edwin Santiago said. “We need to finish when it counts. … We’re young. We lack that game experience.”
The Lions (8-2, 3-2 Ivy) have just one senior in their starting lineup and three on their roster. That youth has been further magnified by the loss of captain McKenzie Foster, who tore her ACL and meniscus in a loss to Dalton on Jan. 13.
“This was our first real competition without her,” Santiago said.
And Horace Mann didn’t do poorly against Poly (12-1, 5-0) without her. The Lions shot very well in the first half and led, 32-26, after a personal, 8-0 run by sophomore Maddy Gordon with 2:05 left before the break. But, though Mann was able to string together some nice runs, it couldn’t sustain them. Poly ended up leading, 35-34, at halftime, an advantage it would not relinquish.
The Lions had a hard time getting into the lane with the presence of 6-foot-4 Blue Devils junior center Lily Donahue. Their jumpers were falling in the first half; not so much, in the second half due to some amped up Poly defense.
“We didn’t get that big shot in the second half,” Santiago said. … “They made us shoot the ball from the outside. It took away our penetration.”
Gordon, though, got Horace Mann within 55-50 with 4:20 left in the game on a 3-point play that also gave Donahue her fourth foul. She finished with 17 points and was the Lions’ most consistent scorer from beginning to end.
“She’s probably our best all-around player,” Santiago said. … “Right now we’re looking for another offensive girl.”
Freshman forward Rachel Lander, a 6-footer, showed promise down low against the much bigger Donahue. She finished with 11 points. Senior guard Heather Delantay had 10 points and Santiago is looking to her to fill some of the void left by Foster’s absence.
Horace Mann, with all its precocious underclassman, has a bright future, but the Lions still have a shot at the Ivy League title this year. A victory Friday at home against Fieldston, which beat Dalton on Wednesday, would go along way.
“That,” Santiago said, “is a must-win for us.”
