Souhegan's Mariella Dart (2) looks for an escape route with help from Nyaaa Dineshkumar (30) against the double team of Pelham's Tatum Dzierlatka (23) and Ava Milley (13) during Friday night's game in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

AMHERST – The Souhegan High School girls basketball team saw a glimpse of its future on Friday night.

Sure, there was a price to pay, a 61-38 loss to the more experienced Pelham Pythons, but the Sabers saw the type of team they want to become.

“And they will become that,” Pelham coach Bob Shepard said. “This (Souhegan) is a good young team, they have one of the best coaches in Division II, they’re an up-and-coming team.

“We say we’re a work in progress, we’re trying to get to the finished product. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

That product for the young 5-3 (10-3 overall) Sabers – six freshmen on the roster, most of whom get regular court time — will come later. They gained some confidence from winning five games to capture the annual Mike Lee Holiday Bash last month,and got a two-point win over the defending Division II champion and local rival Milford the other night.

But Pelham (6-1) is playing at another level.The Sabers were down 14-4 after one quarter, then slipped further away to 35-17 at the half. Consecutive 3-pointers by junior Julia Skelton to start the second half closed things to 35-23 but a 16-4 Pythons run closed out the third quarter at 51-27.

“When you look at them and you look at us, you can tell (the physical difference),” Souhegan coach Greg Cotreau said. “I think they beat us up on the glass a bit, we didn’t box out well enough. And I felt like with their length, we missed some bunnies early that really impacted our offense.”

And that set a young team into a predictable tailspin.

“It’s experience,” Cotreau said of the difference. “We need games like this that are going to get us ready for what we’re going to do in the playoffs.”

And well beyond. In the next couple of years, one or more of those six Saber freshmen will do what Pythons senior Grace Riley did in getting a game-high 20 points. Souhegan freshman inside player Nyaa Dineshkumar (seven points) will will be what Pelham senior Sophyia Guinazzo has been on the glass. Freshman Mariella Dart (also seven points) will be like Python sophomore Kylie Muldoon (10 points).

That’s what time does.

“We’ll be disappointed about this today because we thought we’d put up a better effort,” Cotreau said. “I think our girls play hard, it’s just the experience factor. They (Pelham) do the fundamental things well. We’re still trying to get to where they are.

“That’s a team that’s been together for a long time. We have 10 girls on varsity, and six are freshmen. We’re only going to get better.”