Halftime came at just the right time for the Legends.

Despite trailing by 18 points at the break, Lancaster outscored the Red & Green 26-7 in the third quarter en route to a 63-56 Erie County Interscholastic Conference Division 1 win.

“We just didn’t come out with good energy, which was really surprising considering in the first half the only thing we didn’t do well was shoot free throws,” Jamestown head coach Ken Ricker said. ” … With a young team, if it was the other way and you played poorly, you’d understand.”

Arriana McMahon and Jayda Jackson scored 8 points apiece in the decisive eight minutes, during which Lancaster went 12 of 19 from the field despite turning the ball over seven times.

Jamestown’s Anna Engquist sets up a shot while being guarded by Lancaster’s Keira Farrugia during ECIC Division 1 action at McElrath Gymnasium on Tuesday night. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

“I’m not someone who calls timeouts, it’s just not what I believe in,” Ricker said. “Everybody wants to talk about how young we are, but seniors don’t want to hear we are and four of those freshmen were up last year.”

Freshman Reese Booker, daughter of Cassadaga Valley graduate and longtime Clarence head coach Erin Booker, scored 18 points in the game to lead the Legends.

“She does a great job of getting the ball where it needs to go and they, as a team, do a great job of moving the ball,” Ricker said of Booker. “In the first half, they got mostly corner 3s and we’re ecstatic for that as long as we get the backside glass.”

Jamestown led 19-13 after the first quarter and 35-17 at halftime as Nayani Reid scored 9 points in the opening eight minutes and Payton Gibbs added 10 of her own in the second quarter.

But Lancaster came out on fire in the third quarter and the Red & Green did not.

The Legends scored on seven of their first eight possessions of the period to make it a 35-32 game. At the other end of the floor, Jamestown went 0 of 7 from the floor — all 3-point attempts — before Gibbs scored inside at the 4:30 mark of the quarter. McMahon’s putback with 9.8 seconds left in the period gave the Legends their first lead since it was 3-0 to start the game.

“For us, it’s about our defensive effort and getting to all of the long rebounds and loose balls,” Ricker said. “We’re not going to play a team with that little height again this year. It’s early, we haven’t played a game in 10 days and our conditioning has kind of fallen apart.”

Lancaster’s lead grew to as many as 10 midway through the fourth quarter before the Red & Green went on a 7-0 run to make it 56-53 with 2:42 remaining.

“I was proud after the whole thing evaporated, we made a little, quick run. We’re not at least going to totally lay down,” Ricker said. “All of this controlled chaos that we try to run is in the details. If you don’t do the details, it makes the next girl’s job that much harder.”

But Julia Lyman scored a pair of second-chance baskets and Jackson added a bucket of her own down the stretch and Jamestown could only answer with a Abbee Brandow 3-pointer with 1:18 left in the game.

The Red & Green might have sophomore Aiyanna Stam — a 2024 ECIC Division 1 Second-Team All-Star after she averaged 10.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per game — for Friday’s road game at league favorite West Seneca.

“We’ll go there Friday. It’s a great chance to rebound from this,” Ricker said. “This is Game 2, the game we’re going to be really concerned about is Game 21.”

NOTES: Jamestown shot 21 of 60 from the field, including 7 of 36 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 23 times while going 7 of 24 at the foul line. Gibbs had 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals; Brandow had 12 points; Reid had 9 points; Makena Pryce had 8 points and four steals; Anna Enquist had 8 points, four rebounds and two steals; and Carley Daniels had nine steals. … Lancaster was 29 of 74 from the field, including 5 of 20 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 23 times while going 0 of 5 at the foul line. … Jamestown’s last win over Lancaster came Jan. 24, 2020. Of course, for most of the 14-game streak, the Legends featured Madison Francis, who recently was named Tamika Catchings Freshman of the Week for her play at Mississippi State University.

LANCASTER (63)

Booker 8 0 18, Gizzi 2 0 4, McMahon 5 0 10, Schlotterbeck 2 0 4, Jackson 6 0 12, Farrugia 2 0 5, Klimtzak 0 0 0, Lyman 4 0 10. Totals 29 0 63.

JAMESTOWN (56)

Brandow 4 0 12, Reid 3 1 9, Pryce 2 4 8, Daniels 2 1 5, Thomas 1 0 2, Gibbs 5 1 12, Olmstead 0 0 0, Engquist 4 0 8, Atkinson 0 0 0. Totals 21 7 56.

3-point goals–Booker 2, Farrugia, Lyman 2, Brandow 4, Reid 2, Gibbs.

Lancaster 13 4 26 20 — 63

Jamestown 19 16 7 14 — 56

Jayvees: Lancaster won 57-37.