BARRINGTON — Andrea Kubas-Meyer, Glory Ellison, and Grace Coutu all played their part in leading host Barrington High School girls’ basketball team’s 55-41 victory over Portsmouth Monday evening, Jan, 30.

The trio each finished with 10 or more points in what was a total team effort for the Eagles.

The Patriots were able to hang around for most of the game behind 14 points from Alexis Greffen. Meanwhile, the Eagles remain undefeated and also added Coutu to the 1,000-point club early in the first half.

“Portsmouth is a very talented team and they have a lot of offensive fire power. I can’t say enough for us defensively tonight,” Barrington high school head coach Stephen Lenz said. “We are just a very balanced team. Grace anchors us in the middle, but we are also a very deep team that likes to share the basketball.”

Off the opening tip off, Greffen drove to the basket to give Portsmouth a 2-0 lead which, little did they know at the time, was the last lead the Patriots had. In part due to a driving layup from Ellison, the Eagles found themselves up 4-2 before Coutu was fouled with just 12:55 left in the half. With 999 points counted, the senior center just had to make one of two free throws to earn her place in the special club. Coutu wasted no time, hitting the first free throw as her teammates and family members rushed out to congratulate her.

“She is just such a special kid. She comes out here every day and pushes her teammates,” Coach Lenz. “We won’t have a player like her for a very long time. She is a very special basketball player and just a great person too.” Ellison continued Barrington’s fast start with two more baskets to give the locals a 12-3 lead. The Patriots proceeded to fight back as Greffen pushed the pace up and down the floor to deliver back-to-back scores that helped decrease the visitor’s deficit to 14-9. A two-pointer from Portsmouth’s Kylie Swider put the Eagles’ lead at just 19-17 with under five minutes to play in the half. Barrington proceeded to bounce back with three shots in a row including two from underneath the basket by Ellison. A buzzer beater by Elizabeth Hutchings upped the Eagles’ lead to 27-18 at the half.

“They (Barrington) just played better than us,” Portsmouth head coach Richard Glover said. “We did better in the second half, but we just forced too many shots.”

To begin the second half, the Eagles started right off were they left off as Kubas-Meyer scored the teams first six points to give Barrington a 33-20 lead. Portsmouth continued to stay close enough as points from Gabriella DeComo and Greffen set the score at 34-26 with under ten minutes left in the game. Barrington’s Alexandra Marinelli proceeded to give a spark off the bench as she hit on back-to-back shots including a three-pointer from the corner. This was followed up by Kubas-Meyer hitting a three of her own to set the score at 42-30. With the game seemingly all but over, Portsmouth put up just one more fight as Swider scored twice more to shrink Barrington’s lead to 45-37 with just minutes remaining. While the Patriots continued to fight, Barrington proved to be too much down the stretch as six more points from Coutu ended any comeback hopes Portsmouth had as the Eagles went onto win 55-41.

With the loss, Portsmouth falls to 4-8 and have lost five out of their last six which leaves a lot of work for Coach Glover and his staff to do.

“We have to play more consistently and sure up on defense going forward,” he said.

With another win, the Eagles upped their record to 11-0, but Coach Lenz and his team aren’t thinking about an undefeated season with just seven games remaining.

“I came in tonight wanting to go 1-0 and every point counts towards the state tournament and seeding,” Coach Lenz said. “We are super focused because an undefeated season doesn’t win you a state championship.

Portsmouth will travel to face Bay View Wednesday evening, Feb. 1, while Barrington will travel to St. Raphael the same day.