PLAYOFF OUSTER: Westport girls fall to Carver despite 19 points from Lily Pichette

CARVER — Cold early shooting proved costly for visiting Westport in Friday night’s 57-35 girls' basketball loss at Carver in Division 4 South Sectional tournament action.

The 13th-seeded Wildcats opened the game misfiring on 19 of their first 20 shots from the floor and trailed 12-4 after one quarter and 32-14 at the half.

“I didn’t think we were taking bad shots,” said Westport coach Mike Ponte. “They played us man to man and us being a young team, we struggled with it. It’s not that we were rattled, it was more of a size issue for us.”

Lily Pichette had 10 of Westport’s 14 first-half points. Pichette led all scorers with 19 points.

Carver, seeded 12th, had a very balanced scoring attack, led by Emma Simmons, who finished with 11 points.

Westport’s Jessica Carney scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half as Carney and Pichette accounted for 31 of the Wildcats’ 35 points.

“Carney and Pichette were awesome tonight,” said Ponte. “They are a freshman and sophomore, but they are like seniors for us. I have no doubt they will lead us to great things here.”

Eighth-grader Avery Rounds accounted for the other four points for Westport.

“I think we had a really good year,” Ponte said. “We has a great tournament win at Nantucket and we just lost to a very good team on the road. We are young and this is going to be a learning experience for us.”

Email Mike Thomas at mthomas@heraldnews.com. Follow him @NostraThomasHN.