By Jim Clark
FITCHBURG -- Some people would say there is no such thing as a good loss. Don't count Fitchburg High girls' coach Tony alario among them. Although the Red Raiders dropped a 65-61 decision to Milford Thursday night at the Academy street Brickyard, Alario was more than pleased with the effort after a string of four straight losses. "They played hard. They played like they wanted to win," said Alario, who nonetheless is watching his team struggle to qualify for the Central Mass. tournament.
Milford (15-3) guaranteed itself a share of the Mid-Wach A championship for the first time in 20 years, a feat that certainly pleased Scarlet Hawks coach Tom Collins. "These kids deserve it. Four of these kids were freshmen when I started here four years ago," Collins said.
One of those players is Sauter, who killed the Red Raiders time and again with her long range shooting. Sauter finished with 22 points, including six three-pointers. Two of them came down the stretch just as Fitchburg (9-8) looked like it was ready to retake control of the game.
After falling behind by 11 early in the second half, the Raiders bounced back behind the play of junior Shelly Richard (28 points). A drive form the left side and a layup off a Kristy Pappas steal cut it to 56-55 with 4:36 left.
"We got the ball into the hands of who we wanted to," Alario said of Richard the leading scorer in Mid-Wach A. "Everyone gets into the scoring column when she has the ball."
On the next possession, however, Sauter took a kick-out pass from Lauren Murray and drilled a trey from the right side. Moments later, after two free throws from Richard and another by Sara Thomas (15 points), it was Sauter again on the receiving end of a pass from Jess Haynes. All alone on the right side, Sauter hit nothing but net once agin, and Fitchburg couldn't get closer than four points after that.
"What can you do about that?" Alario asked rhetorically. "We're so small we were trying to pack it in."
Both teams took turns controlling the well played contest. There were six lead changes in the first half, and a pair of free throws by Elena Pandiscio with no time on the clock sent the teams into the locker room tied at 33. FHS started the second half well, getting hoops from Richard and Alicia Gauvin. But Milford responded with a 16-3 run, including treys by Suter and Melissa Alpers (17 points) to take a 51-40 lead with 11:55 to go.
"We had our moments when we started to fluster around a little bit," Alario said. "The girls were really trying to make things happen. Sometimes they try too hard."
Fitchburg still needs one win to reach the post season, and will have to get it in the Large Schools bracket of the Mount Wachusett Invitational. The Red raiders play St. Peter-Marian Saturday at 5:30 PM.