Ayer-Shirley Girls’ Basketball Falls in Season Finale

LUNENBURG – It was a tough ending for the Ayer-Shirley Regional girls’ basketball team.

The Panthers wrapped up their 2024-2025 winter campaign with a 45-29 road loss against the Blue Knights of Lunenburg.

With the defeat, the Panthers finished the season with a 6-14 overall record while Lunenburg, who also concluded its season that night, improved to 6-14.

Panthers first year head coach  Dallas Nealy spoke with the Tracker following the game.

“I thought our girls played very well. The last time we played this Lunenburg team we lost the game by a significant margin. For us to be able to remain competitive and battle this Lunenburg team into the fourth quarter is a great improvement,” said Nealy. “It shows how much these girls have worked and the improvement they have shown from the start of the season.”

Lunenburg’s Chloe Koziol led all scorers with 13 points to pace the Blue Knights. Ayer-Shirley senior Maleah Figueora scored 11 points and classmate Grace Cormier added five points to lead the Panthers on Wednesday.

The contest marked the final game in the high school playing career for five Ayer-Shirley seniors. Figueroa, Cormier, Taylor New, Lauren Reardon and Bella LeBlanc all put on the Panthers jersey for the final time Wednesday night.

“I think things went well this year. We were fortunate enough to have five seniors to provide leadership and really balance the ship for us as a whole,” said Nealy. “They did a great job leading us this year. As for the younger players, I’m really looking forward to seeing them back out here next year and watching them grow and develop.”

Lauren King and Lauren Anderson both added nine points for the victorious Blue Knights.

“It was nice to get the win. This team has been like Jekyll and Hyde all year long,” said Lunenburg head coach Josh Koziol. “It’s been an up and down season, trying to get players to buy in to what we’re doing and play like a team. We’ve shown glimpses of brilliance this season. Give Ayer credit, they played us tough tonight so it was great to pick up the win.”

The visiting Panthers held a 13-7 lead after the first quarter and maintained the upper hand 20-17 heading into the halftime break. The hosts recovered in the third quarter, outscoring Ayer-Shirley 11-5 to take a slim 28-25 advantage into the final eight minutes of action.

Lunenburg used a dominating fourth quarter to create separation on the scoreboard as the Blue Knights limited the Panthers to just four points in the stanza while scoring 17 themselves to secure the victory.

Ayer-Shirley had a tough evening at the free throw line as the Panthers made just three of their nine attempts from the charity stripe while Lunenburg shot 12-for-20 from the line in this one.