p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px Helvetica; min-height: 29.0px}

Westport eighth grade guard Korynne Holden scored 21 points and the starters combined for 66 points as the Wildcats ran over Cape Cod Academy 79-49 in a South Division 4 home playoff game on Thursday night. The Wildcats move on to play Holbrook at home on Monday night at 6:30 p.m. 

The game got out of hand early as the Lady Wildcats scored 24 first quarter points and led 44-22 at halftime. The hometown crowd was loud early as a good portion of the boys hoops team showed up to cheer on the girls. 

Holden scored 8 in the first quarter and 15 in the first half. Coach Ponte rested freshman star point guard Leah Sylvain most of the second quarter after she scored 5 first quarter points. Sylvain scored 10 points playing sparingly in the second half. 

Cape Cod had no answer for Wildcats center Lily Pichette. She scored 11 points and was a monster on the boards. Team captain Jess Carney scored 10 points, helped out with rebounding and played great defense. Peyton Mahjoory scored 9 points, helped with the trap and had wide open lanes to drive to the hoop with her talented teammates spread out along the arch. 

In the first quarter, The Wildcats were extremely tough defensively, as Sylvain, Holden and Mahjoory consistently trapped Cape Cod’s guards as they dribbled up court. When the Eagles did get it inside they’d contended with Pichette and Carney, who blocked, rebounded and ripped balls away from the Eagles forwards.

With 4 minutes left in the first quarter, Mahjoory stole the ball in the defensive zone and sent Holden on a fast break. She beat a defender to the hoop and scored on a running layup to put the Wildcats up 18-1. Two minutes later, Holden and Sylvain made a steal at mid court Sylvain collected the ball and ran it in for a layup, but the ball slid out. Pichette grabbed the rebound and attempted a put back and was fouled. She sunk both free throws to give Westport a 20-5 lead. She scored again on a layup from the post after wrestling the ball away from Cape Cod senior forward Kaileigh Bickford to make the score 22-5 with 55 seconds left. Wildcats eighth grade guard Sarah Perry slammed Cape Cod forward Sarah Dumaresq as she went to take a jumper in the paint. Holden collected the ball and raced up court and sunk a running layup to give the Wildcats a 24-5 first quarter lead. 

In the second quarter, Coach Ponte rested Mahjoory and Slyvain with the big lead and instead, started junior guard Isis Obolensky with Holden, Perry, Carney and Pichette. Obolensky, a ball hawk, did a great job helping Holden with the trap. 

A pair of Jess Carney free throws put the Wildcats up 34-9 with 2:58 to play in the second quarter. A Holden fast break layup put Westport up 38-16 with 1:15 left in the quarter. 

Coach Ponte inserted sophomore guard Lacey Chaunt for Obolensky. She netted a foul shot to give Westport a 41-19 lead with 33 seconds to play. Then Holden hit a three to give the Wildcats a 44-22 halftime lead. 

Coach Ponte put the starters back out to start the second half and they immediately extended the lead by going on a 23-8 run for a 67-30 lead with 2:32 left in the third period. Sylvain and Mahjoory sunk back to back threes, and Holden, Carney and Obolensky all scored during the run. Coach Ponte pulled the starters, they walked off the court to a shower of cheers.

The starters came out briefly in the fourth quarter before coach Ponte gave way to his third string. Carney led the the bench in cheering when the Alora Defonseca, Abby Gaudreau and Zoe Sylvain scored points down the stretch. 

Westport scoring: Korynne Holden scored 21 points, Leah Scored 15 points, Lily Pichette scored 11, Jess Carney scored 10, Peyton Mahjoory scored 9, Isis Obolensky scored 5, Lacey Chaunt scored 3, Alora Defonseca scored 2, Abby Gaudreau scored 2 and Soey Sylvain scored 1.