Young Westport falls short against visiting Fairhaven

WESTPORT - Westport's young guns were put to the test Thursday night and nearly pulled out the victory.

The Wildcats, who start three 8th-graders and a 9th-grader, came up just short against the visiting Fairhaven Blue Devils, falling 41-38 in non-league girls' basketball action.

"This was an opportunity for us to play up (a division) and test ourselves," said Westport assistant coach Jen Gargiulo, filling in for Mike Ponte, who fell ill during the game. "Fairhaven is a well-balanced, very disciplined team. (Lexi Labonte) is a shooter, (Bre Demanche) is a great rebounder and (Ashley Leonard) just battles in there. Those are great things for our girls to see."

The final seconds of Fairhaven’s 41-38 girls basketball win over Westport. pic.twitter.com/lWvaty8MNu

— Mike Thomas (@NostraThomasHN) January 18, 2019

The game was close throughout with neither team leading by more than six points. Captain Jessica Carney led Westport with eight first-half points, while Leonard also had eight as the Blue Devils held a 23-20 lead at the break.

Twice, the visitors had six-point leads in the third quarter, but consecutive baskets by Dakota Azevedo pulled Westport within two at 29-27 late in the third quarter.

A Labonte 3-pointer built Fairhaven's lead back to six at 36-30, but the Cats tied it on a pair of baskets by Lily Pichette and a hoop from Leah Sylvain.

Labonte, who scored eight of Fairhaven's 10 points in the fourth quarter, drained another 3-pointer to give Fairhaven the lead for good at 39-36 with less than two minutes remaining.

With the Cats down 39-38 with 9.7 seconds left, Westport forced a five-second violation as the Devils were taking the ball out of bounds, but then gave the ball right back as Demanche stole the inbounds pass.

With five ticks remaining, Labonte hits a pair of free throws to seal the win.

"We're young, but in my opinion you'll never meet another group with more heart, tenacity." Gargiulo said. "It's awesome to see. Those are things you can't teach."

Carney led the way for Westport with nine points. Labonte led all scorers with 14.