Friday night was Senior Night at Brien McMahon High School for the girls basketball team, for the Lady Senators, and the seniors were the difference in a hard-fought 58-53 win over the Darien girls.  

Khea Gibbs led the McMahon scoring with 16 points, supported by fellow seniors Kaylin English and Kaitlin Whittington with 14 points each. The win puts the Senators at 8-6 in the FCIAC, and in the driver's seat for a league tournament spot with four games left on the schedule. 

Conversely, the loss was a blow to Darien's hopes of making the tournament; the Wave is now in tenth place with a 7-7 record, and while still in the running for a spot in the FCIACs, they'll need help down the stretch to make the final eight.

McMahon took control of the game early in the first half, running out to a 16-6 lead behind two 3-pointers by Gibbs. Darien got the game back to 17-14 before the end of the first quarter on the back of strong play by Meg Marren, who led the Wave in scoring with 15 points.

McMahon pulled away again in the second quarter and led at the half by 6, 34-28. 

The Senators extended their lead in the third quarter to 42-33, before the Wave went on a 11-2 run led by Buch to end the period knotted up at 44-44. Buch finished with 13 points, all the more remarkable since she missed significant portions of the game with foul trouble, and played the entire fourth quarter with four fouls.

The first part of the fourth quarter was a rugged affair, with much action but little scoring, and the teams remained tied at 46 each with four minutes to play. McMahon began to slowly pull away from that point. They got the lead up to 56-48 with 1:25 on the clock, when the gritty Wave rallied to close the gap to 56-53 with 17 seconds to play.  Two free throws by the talented senior Gibbs with 11 seconds left sealed Darien's fate and the game ended at 58-53 in favor of McMahon.  

Darien's record is 7-7 in the FCIAC and 8-8 overall. They host Bridgeport Central on Tuesday at DHS. Game time is 7 p.m.

LEADING SCORERS

Darien:
Meg Marren 15 points
Nicole Buch 13
Liz Calby 10

Brien McMahon:
Khea Gibbs 16
Kaylin English 14
Kaitlin Whittington 14

Editor's Note: John Boulton is a Darien High School Girls Basketball dad.