NAPLES — There was no stopping the Lake Region girls’ basketball team Saturday night.
And that was a problem for the Gray-New Gloucester Patriots.
Mike Andreasen’s team had given the Lakers a battle in an earlier season meeting, but in the rematch, Lake Region took control early and hardly looked back in a 59-41 win.
“Coming in our mantra the first time was to go compete with them,” said Andreasen, whose team lost 43-36 the first time. “We did. We lost by seven. We were in the game the whole way. We had (Tiana-Jo) Carter in foul trouble.
“Tonight, they came out and played like a team that wants to compete for a state championship. We’re young and we played very young and inexperienced. We can’t do that. We have to take their best punch and punch back. I think we took their best punch and then took their next best punch.”
It wasn’t just a rematch between local rivals but also a battle between two of the top teams in Western B. Lake Region is currently third while Gray-NG is fourth.
Lake Region (8-1) used an effective inside-outside game that the Patriots (6-3) couldn’t matchup up with or stop. Carter dominated the inside with 18 points while Sierra Hancock hit four 3’s and finished with 13 points.
“At Gray, (Carter) didn’t play much because of foul trouble,” said Lake Region coach Paul True. “A lot of that was because we couldn’t move the basketball and make them work defensively.”
The Patriots got 15 from Maria Valente and 11 from Alicia Dumont.
The Lakers built a 21-14 lead in the first quarter and never really looked back. The Patriots were down 38-22 by halftime and were struggling with foul trouble. Gray-NG had three players nursing three fouls by halftime and fouled out one while four others had three or more fouls.
“I rotate my four bigs and all four of them were in foul trouble,” Andreasen said.
That was an account of a tightly whistled game and Carter’s dominance in the paint. Though Carter eventually fouled out, she was unstoppable for much of the game.
“We didn’t d a good job keeping her off the boards,” Andreasen said. “She’s deceivingly quick. She finds a way of getting the offensive boards. She’s a tough matchup, for us and for everybody.”
The Lakers opened up the quick lead with a 16-7 run. That was sparked by a pair of early 3’s by Hancock. The Patriots fouls put the Lakers to the line early and often and Lake Region hit nine free throws in the first quarter. Carter had seven of them.
“I think we did a great job matching their intensity,” True said. “We know Gray is a good and dangerous team. I think our ball movement was excellent tonight, and I think we had great contributions from people off the bench.”
Lake Region was up by as many as 10 in the first quarter after a rebound by Carter and a free throw from Hancock. That made it 19-9. The Patriots cut the deficit to 21-14 by quarter’s end thanks to a 3 from Valente.
In the second, the Lakers used a 9-2 run to open the lead further. Carter had a pair of rebounds and Kristen Huntress had a three-point play to help push the lead to 30-16.
A late rebound by Carter and a basket by Megan Van Loan had the lead up to 38-22 by halftime.
“High school kids have a tendency t let up or allow runs” True said. “I thought we were able to avoid doing that.”
The Lakers used a 9-2 run in the third to get the lead up to 55-32 after three. Hancock had a pair of 3’s in the quarter while Lucy Fowler, Jordan Turner, Sarah Hancock, Miranda Chadbourne and Carter all scored.
In the fourth, the Patriots had their best surge with an 8-2 run to start the fourth. Zoe Adams had three points during that stretch while Valente, Stephanie Greaton and Dumont all scored.
“There’s two things you have t do to beat them,” Andreasen said. “You have to keep Carter off the boards and clear out their shooters. I’m not sure we did a great job of either. I thought we did a better job closing out their shooters, but if you don’t do both effectively, they will run away from you. Even if you do both it doesn’t guarantee you a win, but it just keeps you in the game.”
kmills@sunjournal.com
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