A three-pointer from Hawkins made it 20-17 Boyle. It was a 23-21 game on a jumper from the Colts’ Sarah Currey with 4:22 left in the third when Boyle (4-11) began to pull away.
Sara Jane Tamme scored on a putback, then hit a short jumper off a West Jessamine turnover, and Dee Foster came down and hit another jumper to stretch Boyle’s lead to 29-21 with 3:12 left in the quarter.
A steal from Lauren Richards led to a free throw from Michaela Megilligan, and Sadie Stevens scored on a layup to make it 32-21 Boyle with two minutes to go in the quarter. Boyle took a 36-25 lead into the fourth quarter when Tamme’s steal led to a layup by Kalin Bottoms with a second left.
Boyle was 10-for-20 shooting in the third quarter and finished the game 21-of-65 and made 9-of-24 free throws.
The Colts got within five at 41-36 on a free throw from Emma Baxter, but they could get no closer.
And as the Colts wore down, the Rebels began to own the glass.
Boyle held just a 16-14 rebounding edge at the half but ended up outrebounding West 42-29, including 23-4 on the offensive boards.
“What happens is, by having an inexperienced team, you lose your man when the ball is shot,” Thomas said. “Tonight, we put on the board, ‘Never lose your rebounding assignment.’ And we did that.”
Conner had a game-high 13 rebounds, while Ashlee Rose had nine boards.
Foster pulled down 10 rebounds, Michelle Howell had seven, and Megilligan and Richards each had six. That enabled Boyle to take 28 more shots than West Jessamine, which finished 16-of-37 from the floor but made just 9-of-19 free throws.
Neither team was able to generate much offense in the first half. Richards hit a halfcourt shot at the end of the first quarter to put Boyle up 7-5.
A jumper from Conner made it a 12-10 Colts lead, but Megilligan scored on a drive with a minute to go in the half to tie it up, then Bottoms scored on a jumper to give Boyle its 14-12 halftime lead.
Richards led a balanced scoring attack with 10 points to go with six rebounds. Megilligan added nine points and Bottoms scored eight as nine Rebels hit the scoring column.
The Colts suffered their fifth straight loss heading into Saturday’s game with Mercer County. So Thomas said all his team can do is go back and practice and try to get better.
“I told them, ‘If you just keep playing hard like you have been, good things are going to happen,’” Thomas said. “And we held them to 14 points in the first half. We stress and teach defense, and I thought we did a good job of that in the first half.
“The second half, we broke down some. We were tired. But we’ve just got keep working.”
On Monday night, West lost on the road at Lincoln County. On Saturday, the Colts lost at home to Tates Creek 61-38.
