Taylor Mayweather shoots. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)

Amanda Orlak lays the ball up as teammate Kaitlyn Herbert watches. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)

Robbinsville High’s Kaitlyn Herbert looks to pass during the Ravens’ 55-44 loss to Ewing Jan. 6, 2012. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)

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Once the Ewing High School girls’ basketball team regained the lead just before halftime in its Jan. 6 game at Robbinsville High School, it never gave it back. Ewing eventually won, 55-44.

The Blue Devils led 26-24 at the half after a last-second 2-point shot by Gabby McRae.

Led by guard Candace Scott-Mason, Ewing was able to pull ahead after a tight first half. When Robbinsville faltered in snagging rebounds and making shots, Ewing seemed to pick up the slack. Ewing head coach Mike Reynolds said that it was due in large part to Scott-Mason’s play.

“She’s a slippery guard who can find and get into lanes that other guards can’t,” he said. “She’s very agile and exciting to watch. I think the girls feed off of that.”

“I try to play confident,” Scott-Mason said. “I think it makes the other girls confident. It pumps them up, and we get in the game.”

Robbinsville had the same type of player in Amanda Orlak. Both Orlak and Scott-Mason were able to make baskets and play with poise under pressure. Orlak led all scorers with 14 points. Scott-Mason followed her with 13.

“Amanda is the most hard-playing girl I have ever coached,” Robbinsville head coach Chris Hoffman said. “I have never seen anyone try like her.”

Orlak and the Ravens’ efforts, though, were not enough to stop the Blue Devils.

The lead changed twice in the first quarter, but Robbinsville dominated in the second. The Ravens led up until McRae’s bucket at the end the half.

After that, the game was all Ewing’s. The win brought Ewing’s record to 4-3. Robbinsville dropped to 3-4. Both teams have excelled since then, with the Ravens sporting a 7-5 record, and Ewing improving to 9-3.

“We stepped up our defense in the third quarter and came back and just played harder,” Scott-Mason said.

The Ravens are relatively young, and Hoffman is in his first year as girls varsity head coach. The coach said that results in some unfamiliarity.

“It was up and down,” Hoffman said. “They’re not used to being in tight games, so there was a little bit of panic.”

The win brought Ewing above .500, and Reynolds said that staying there is one of the team’s goals for the season.

“The key to this game and the whole season is defense and defensive rebounds,” he said. “We aren’t the tallest team, but we can score points. Defense and rebounds let us keep control.”

“We’ve improved a lot since last year,” Scott-Mason said. “This is our first time above .500 this season, so we’re feeling good.”