NAUGATUCK – The Tolsia Lady Rebels defeated the Logan Lady Wildcats in the first game played at the John Preece Memorial Tournament on Friday night, 54-34.

Tolsia took the early lead, scoring 13 points in the first quarter to Logan’s five points.

The trend continued into the second quarter with the Lady Rebels’ holding off Logan (3-6) again to only five points – all scored by Logan’s Briana Johnson in the closing minutes of the half.

The second half of play saw Logan keep up the pace with the Lady Rebels, scoring 12 points in the third and fourth quarters, but it wasn’t enough to overtake Tolsia.

Kara Pollinger of Tolsia had the game high scoring honors with 17 points.

Other Lady Rebels that scored were: Courtney Stiltner with eight points, Amber Finley with seven, Karli Purvis and Rachel Webb with six each, Karey Waller with five and Katie and Kellie Lahoda, each with two points.

Johnson was Logan’s high scorer with 16 of her team’s 34 points.

Other scorers included: Erica Kelley with eight points; Emily Vinson with four; and Katie Kirk, Katie Chryssofos and Jessica Bias each with two points each.

Logan was scheduled to get back into action on Saturday with the tournament consolation game against Williamson. Tolsia and Tug Valley played each other in the championship game.

Tug Valley 53, Williamson 34

NAUGATUCK – The first day of the John Preece Memorial Tournament saw the hosts of the tournament, the Tug Valley Lady Panthers, move on to the championship game after beating the Williamson Lady Wolfpack, 53-34.

Tug Valley led Williamson throughout most of the game, jumping out to a 15-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.

By the end of the second quarter, the Lady Pack seemed to be gaining ground, ending the first half of play trailing Tug Valley, 26-18.

The Lady Panthers jumped out to a 35-20 lead after Tug Valley’s Hailee Ward scored seven unanswered points.

The Wolfpack ended the quarter with Jessica Fields sinking a long 3-pointer from more than 30 feet at the buzzer to make it 39-28.

Despite the upward momentum ending the third, Tug Valley was able to hold off Williamson, only allowing them six points in the final quarter to end the game.

“We started out well and in the second half we played hard,” said Tug Valley’s head coach, Okey Smith. “I have a saying: ‘if you don’t play well, play hard’ but I think we did both tonight. I have all the respect in the world for Coach (Robin) Porter and Williamson played well.

Porter said Williamson didn’t quit.

“We knew coming in that Tug Valley had some shooters, but we stayed close throughout the first half,” Porter said. “After they started to breakaway in the third quarter, the girls didn’t quit, but it was hard to catch up after that. I think their 2-3-1 press bothered us a little since we hadn’t seen it yet this year. It’s a learning experience for us and it will come in handy later when we’re playing in our sectionals.”

Whitney Evans led Tug Valley with 18 points – nine of those coming in the first quarter.

Tabby Mounts and Hailee Ward tossed in 10 points each, while Elizabeth Evans had nine and Lakethria Houck chipped in with two.

Senior Devan Maynard was Williamson’s high scorer with 14 points, going 8-for-12 from the free throw line.

Jessica Fields scored eight for the Lady Wolfpack, Mackenzie Stapleton had six and Olivia Banks tallied four.