BRANDON CANEVARI

Manchester Journal

ARLINGTON -- The Arlington girls basketball team fell behind early in the game against Proctor on Wednesday and the defending state champs never relinquished the lead as the beat the Eagles 51-42 on Arlington's home floor.

Playing before a large crowd on Senior Night, the Eagles (9-7) tried to claw their way back into the game, coming within three points in the third quarter, before Proctor (15-2) was able to get more breathing room.

"For us to gut it out down here versus a top four Division IV team was a tremendous effort," said Proctor coach Chris Hughes. "We knew coming down here was going to be the toughest environment we played in all year, Senior Night, and those guys have been playing real well the last month. They're well coached. They play hard and they never stop playing."

Proctor was powered by seniors Carissa Elrick -- who led all scorers with 19 points and seven rebounds -- and senior Megan Carter who recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Phantoms neutralized Arlington senior Rayleen Sherman for much of the game as she had a single point going into the fourth quarter.

She turned it up a notch in the fourth quarter -- dropping 10 points in the frame -- and nearly leading the comeback.

Scoring for the Eagles was fairly evenly distributed with sophomore guard Molly Elwell leading with 12 points and Sherman adding 11.

Julia Lacoste also was in double figures with 10.

Turnovers, abundant on both sides of the ball, played a role in the team's loss, according to Arlington coach Larry Andrews.

"I think they capitalized more on their defensive turnovers than we did,"said Andrews. "We had a couple where we'd throw it up and we'd throw it away. It's our youth too. I've got four sophomores out there at times and that's the defending state championship team [who] could be repeating."