By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

Spencer True faced a very long shot to tie the game in the final seconds, but like a lot of things that happened last Thursday night, it just wasn’t meant to be.

True’s downtown jumper skidded off the rim as the Lady Lakers dropped their second straight tight loss, 39-36 to Wells.

The Warriors kept the door open to a potential fantastic finish by missing the front end of three 1-and-1 chances from the foul line over the final 45.1 seconds. They also commited a head-scratching turnover, trying to beat the Laker press by throwing the ball deep, but the pass went out of bounds. LR had the ball back under their own basket with 6.4 ticks on the clock. One more chance.

Those misfires nearly came back to haunt Wells, which won the season series from the Lakers, as Kristen Huntress (game-high 14 points and 4 rebounds) scored off a strong baseline drive to close the game to four, and then split two defenders to draw a foul. But, she made just 1 of 2 foul shots.

Free throw shooting has been a heavy weight on LR players’ shoulders this season, and continued to be a struggle through three quarters. After going 3-of-16 through three periods, the Lakers found the mark when they mounted a fourth quarter comeback, down 10. They clawed back into the contest by sinking 8-of-12 attempts.

It was a scrappy battle all night. Both teams were methodical in the first quarter, using multiple of passes trying to find an opening in the defenses. LR led 7-3 after layups by Kaylyn Jordan and Melody Millett.

Wells, however, trailed by just a bucket after one despite 2-of-10 shooting.

With the Lakers dealing with some foul trouble in the second quarter, they saw Wells tie the contest twice, including 14-14 off a three-pointer from Hannah Moody. LR had chances to build a cushion, but missed the front end of 1-and-1 opportunities twice, and were just 2-of-8 from the foul line, 1-of-4 in the final 1:07.

Wells took advantage as forward Delaney O’Brien knocked down a shot at the end of the quarter to give the Warriors a 17-15 lead.

As Wells started to assert themselves inside the lane, the Warriors built a six-point lead at the midway point of the third quarter. But as she has done several times this season, Huntress delivered a three-pointer from the left corner and a jumper just inside the arc from the left wing to close the gap to 24-22.

Over the final 3:33, the Lakers’ offense went stone cold. Freshman Brooke Harriman scored the lone point from the foul line as the Warriors went on a 9-1 run to build a 10-point lead.

Despite a tough shooting night, the Lakers continued to play hard and were rewarded with 12 trips to the foul line. While they finally rediscovered their shooting touch, it proved a little too late.

For the Lakers, Chandler True and Lauren Jakobs each finished with 6 points, Millett 4, Jordan, Harriman and Spencer True each had 2 points.

Turnovers: LR 16, W 12

Field Goals: LR 9-34, W 16-39

Free Throws: LR 11-28, W 5-15

Rebounds: LR 27, W 23

LR rebounders: S. True 7, Millett 6, Jakobs 5, C. True 4, Harriman 3, Jordan 2.

• The Lakers snapped their two-game losing streak Saturday with a 52-50 victory at Poland.

Up next: The Lakers travel today to Waynflete for a 4 p.m. game, host Sacopee Valley on Saturday with a 1:30 matinee, and host Kennebunk on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.