Sachems lose a close game against E.O. Smith

Marissa Larned drives for the basket. Photos by Melanie Savage.

It was bound to be a good game. Coming into the Jan. 5 meet-up, both the E.O. Smith Panthers and the RHAM Sachems had put together a strong start to the season. Winning their first six games, the Sachems had experienced just one loss, two days before, to Tolland. E.O. Smith had come back from a 77-72 season-opener loss to Northwest Catholic to rack up six wins in a row.

Not surprisingly, the teams were neck and neck for much of the game. By early in the second quarter, RHAM had opened up a nine-point lead with a score of 28-19. But E.O. Smith, with contributions from a number of different players, managed to close the gap to within one point by the end of the quarter, for a score of 37-38 RHAM going into the half.

Panthers captain Murphy Murad put the pressure on for the final quarter, scoring a number of points and drawing a total of nine fouls. Despite some RHAM pressure driven by Marissa Larned and Cameron Rishell in the fourth, Murad’s intensity pushed the Panthers into a final victory of 80-74.

The high-scorer for RHAM was Sarah Veilleux, with a total of 21 points. Alyssa Hansen racked up a total of 18 points. Other high-scorers for RHAM were Cameron Rishell (16 points) and Marissa Larned (12 points).