The Duxbury girls’ basketball team had a chance to wrap up the Keenan Division of the Patriot League last Friday night in Duxbury, but laid an egg in a 69-51 thrashing at the hands of Silver Lake.{sidebar id=4}

There was hardly a positive aspect to the game for Coach Mark Dunn, whose squad looked completely out of synch in their passing, shooting, and lack of rebounding on the defensive boards.

The Lakers came into the game with an 8-1 league record, 14-2 overall, and were looking for their first league title. The win over Duxbury clinched at least a tie, and a victory last night over Scituate would give Coach Dick Steele his first title at Silver Lake.

It was Senior Night for the Lady Dragons, who end regular season play tomorrow night at Marshfield, and it was also a night to honor Jaclyn Murphy, who the team has adopted as she battles medulloblastoma, a malignant and life-threatening brain tumor.

What should have been a high point in the season, turned into the low point, as the Lady Dragons committed 13 turnovers in the first half to stake the Lakers to a 28-17 halftime lead.

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS: Duxbury’s Sara Botieri takes the ball away from Silver Lake’s Nicole Conboy. Botieri turned in an all-around effort by scoring 16 points in the 69-51 loss. 

Senior Ashley Dugre appropriately carried Duxbury in the first quarter with six points, while the first eight minutes ended in an 11-11 tie.

Allison Mulvey (13) and Chelsea Shaughnessy (17) took over in the second quarter, leading an 11-4 run that forced Dunn to call a timeout with 2:52 left in the half in an attempt to kill the Lakers’ momentum. It seemed to have little effect, as Silver Lake outscored the Lady Dragons 6-2 to take a 28-17 lead into halftime.

Junior Sara Botieri almost single-handedly kept Duxbury in the game in the third quarter, hitting a three-pointer and driving aggressively to the basket on several occasions, while scoring 11 points in five minutes to keep the game close at 40-35 with two minutes to go.

Juniors Katie Curley (3) and Kelly Curley (2) scored in the final minute to close the gap to 44-40, but Shaughnessy stole a Duxbury pass in the final seconds and converted a three-point play that seemed to take all of the steam out of the Duxbury comeback bid.

A 9-2 Silver Lake run at the start of the final quarter put the game away, as the lead grew to 56-42 with just under four minutes left to play.{sidebar id=1}

The Duxbury offense was rudderless at this point, as Silver Lake could smell a championship and put their foot to the pedal, running off another run of 13-9 with Botieri (5) and Alexa Shanahan (3) providing the Duxbury offense.

Botieri led Duxbury with 16 points, while Katie Curley chipped in with 11. Samantha Ford was game-high scorer with 20 for the Lakers.