They had a lot more confidence than they did in last year’s tournament opener with Wellesley. However, in the end the Lady Dragons couldn’t translate that feeling into points, as they were eliminated from postseason play in a 52-44 opening round loss to #6-seeded Dighton-Rehoboth.

Duxbury came in as the #11-seed in Division II South Sectional action with a 13-6 record and the unenviable task of trying to harness 6’2” Boston College-bound center Mary Nwachukwu (29 pts.), who was averaging 30 points per game and 12 rebounds, while also swatting away five blocked shots per game.

They seemed to have the Falcon center under control in the first half, as they held her to just nine points while taking a 22-18 halftime lead. But during crunch time the ball went repeatedly inside, where Nwachukwu did most of her damage in the fourth quarter.

Thanks in large part to the first-quarter heroics of Devon Tsinzo, Duxbury not only stayed close, but grabbed their biggest lead of the game at 13-8, as Tsinzo lit it up with three straight bombs, forcing D-R to call a timeout with 1:13 to go in the quarter.

The Falcons would regain the lead (14-13) to start the second quarter, but senior Kelly Curley took over and scored eight of Duxbury’s nine second-quarter points to head into the locker room with a four-point advantage.

In the second half the Lady Dragons seemed to stray from what got them their first-half lead.

“We debated at halftime whether to stick with a 2/3 zone or go man-to-man,” said Dunn. “We actually used both in the first half and wanted to stick to that philosophy. When we started to fall behind I thought we should go up-tempo to give us a more aggressive defense and our frontline had a tough task trying to control Nwachukwu down low in the second half.”

A Sadie Gosselin three-pointer slashed the lead immediately, and baskets by Kelsey Mikkelson and Emily Silva put the Falcons back on top midway through the period.

The Lady Dragons battled back with a pair of free throws from Sara Botieri and a Katie Curley basket, but once Nwachukwu cut the lead to 28-27, Coach Mark Dunn called a well-timed timeout to keep momentum from building for the hosts.

When play resumed, Stacia Boynton and Kelly Curley kept Duxbury in the lead, but trouble was brewing underneath, as Nwachukwu was starting to score at will.

The D-R center opened the fourth quarter by hitting both ends of a one-on-one that put the Falcons ahead 33-32. It was the last time Duxbury would see the lead, as they were out-scored 10-2 over the next two minutes with Nwachukwu doing major damage underneath.

Kelly Curley (5 pts.) and Boynton (2 pts.) would keep Duxbury close at 49-41 with under a minute to go, and Katie Curley’s three-pointer gave the Lady Dragons some hope at 49-44.

With the Falcons going to the foul line on a regular basis, Duxbury still had a chance. But Nwachukwu was right on the spot to grab a missed free throw with 27 seconds to go that also fouled out Katie Curley.

While Duxbury was out-played down the stretch, they didn’t help their cause by hitting just five of nine free throws, while the Falcons went to the line 27 times and hit 13.

“It’s hard to win a game when you only score 44 points,” said Dunn. “I felt we were really cold shooting and our press just wasn’t effective tonight. The kids were working hard, but offensively we were just flat and missed a lot of shots.”

Kelly Curley had a big night for Duxbury with 17 points, while Tsinzo (9) and Katie Curley (8) also aided the Lady Dragon offense.

The loss ends the season for Duxbury at 13-7 and also concludes the high school basketball careers of seniors Kelly and Katie Curley, Carly Donovan, Shannon Kelly, Michelle Oloskey, Julia Riley, Sara Botieri, Alexa Shanahan, and Stacia Boynton.