By ADAM SHINDER

For the Express

BROADALBIN — Broadalbin-Perth girls basketball coach Michael Magliocca has been trying to tweak with his team’s offense as the Lady Patriots head into the stretch run of the season.

Monday night, the Johnstown Lady Bills weren’t fooled one bit.

Johnstown’s defense shut off the passing lanes to B-P’s leading scorer, Kaitlin Wood, holding her without a field goal, while Lady Bills point guard Stacy Loucks commanded the offensive end of the floor to leave the Lady Patriots reeling with a 48-26 defeat.

“We’re putting somewhat of a new offense in, (and) the problem is when you have four girls running an offense and one doesn’t, then nothing’s going to work,” Magliocca said. “It’s a team effort.”

Despite being held scoreless from the field, Wood still scored a team-high seven points for B-P (7-8, 2-8 Foothills Council) by finishing 7-of-8 at the free throw line. No other Lady Patriot finished with more than four points, and B-P made just seven shots from the field the entire night.

It was the second meeting between the teams this season where Johnstown held B-P to 26 points. In the two games, Wood — who averages nearly 16 points per game — was held to 15 total points.

“Johnstown plays her tough,” Magliocca said. “They probably do a better job than anyone we play in the Foothills or in non-league games. They just know how to defend Kaitlin Wood.”

Johnstown coach Tim Derwin gave much of the credit for locking down Wood to senior Brynn Hlozansky, who was attached to the hip of B-P’s junior forward nearly the entire evening.

“That was a great defensive effort, especially on Brynn Hlozansky’s part,” Derwin said. “If you had to pick a kid that made the difference in this game, she shut Kaitlin Wood down. Her job was to not give her any space, and the rest of the team was there to pinch her and hold her down. Our defense was superb.”

Loucks led the offensive charge for Johnstown (8-5, 5-3) with 12 points, while Lexi Swatt came off the bench to knock down a pair of 3-pointers on her way to an 11-point effort. Magliocca said it was Loucks who consistently confounded his squad’s defense with her ability to get into the lane and create opportunities both for herself and her fellow Lady Bills.

“We had not one person on our team that could guard her tonight,” he said. “She penetrated, she made other girls better tonight because they were wide open when she penetrated. It was the Stacy Loucks show tonight.”

The Lady Patriots’ struggles started early with just four first quarter points, but Johnstown had an equally tough time from the field, though the Lady Bills managed to grab an 8-4 lead after eight minutes thanks to a heavy advantage on the offensive glass and some late free throws. The tide turned in the second quarter, when, after B-P got back-to-back baskets from Katie Herba and MacKenzie Ottati to pull within 11-8, the Lady Patriots didn’t convert another field goal until Kelsey Tesiero’s 3-pointer with 6:38 to play in the fourth quarter.

Johnstown took advantage of B-P’s offensive lapses to close than half on a 15-1 run. By the time the Lady Patriots finally scored from the field again, Johnstown had opened up a 40-15 advantage.

“The bottom line is, you have to run an offense,” Magliocca said. “You can’t just go out there and stand in one spot. We’re trying to get it and look inside quicker, we’re just not anticipating what to do when we get the ball. It seems like we’re catching the ball and thinking. We’ve got to anticipate and get the ball where it needs to go.

“We’ll get it. We’re not giving up. We’ve just got to keep playing hard.”