The 31st-seeded North Branford girls' basketball squad gave the 2nd-seeded Notre Dame-Fairfield Lancers all they could handle in the opening round of the Class M State Tournament, but couldn't pull out the upset in the end, losing 40-28.

Notre Dame used a balanced attack on the offensive end to beat the Thunderbirds with seven different scorers. It was a relatively even first quarter, but Notre Dame ran away in the second and never looked back as it had a 14-10 lead after one quarter, then outscored North Branford 13-4 in the second. After North Branford scored the first two buckets of the quarter, Notre Dame went on a 13-0 run to close out the half.

"We tied it up at 14 and then we just got sloppy," said North Branford Head Coach Chris Webster. "We weren't making our shots, weren't trapping, and we didn't do a very good job on the offensive boards so we were one-and-done, then they'd go down with another possession and work the ball."

It was a fast-paced game that featured few fouls. In the first half, North Branford was whistled three times while Notre Dame committed four fouls.Webster thought the lack of whistles rattled, intimidated, and frustrated the team. She said that both teams were pushing and shoving, trying to gain an edge.

"It wasn't that they were lopsided. They just weren't calling anything so we were pushing them around, too," said Webster.

The fouls picked up in the second half, but they were mostly being called against North Branford. This was especially the case toward the end, when the T-Birds were forced to foul to keep their hopes alive. In the end, the free throw differential was the difference in the game.

"They hit 8-of-13 free throws while we only went to the line four times and made one," Webster said. "Overall, field goals were pretty close. It was the free throws that killed us."

Sabrina LeMere led all scorers with 11 points for North Branford while Jenny Sabetta and Justine Johnson each added six.

Although North Branford lost by 12, Webster felt the team was in the game until the very end. She said the T-Birds cut the lead down to seven or eight late in the fourth quarter before Notre Dame began to slow down the pace in an attempt to run out the clock. The 12-point loss isn't that great of an indicator of how North Branford fared as it actually won the second half 14-13, despite chasing and fouling for half of the fourth quarter.

"I would've done the same thing if I were leading by six or eight points. It was a good strategy for them," Webster said. "We were right in it until the very end. It was a competitive game and our kids played very hard and we did the best we could with what we have."