AUBURN — Facing a determined rival Lewiston team in Monday night’s Battle of the Bridge, the Edward Little Red Eddies buckled down on the defensive end in the fourth quarter.
Edward Little held Lewiston scoreless for the final 6:10 and scored the last 11 points of the game to pull out a 41-30 win, their second over their rival this season.
Sophomore Grace Fontaine led all scorers with 14 points and also had four steals for the Red Eddies (13-2), who beat Lewiston, 41-24, on Jan. 10. Jordyn Reynolds added 10 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Morgan Eliasen led the Blue Devils (7-8) with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Victoria Harris added eight points and nine boards.
“When they tied it, we didn’t look down. We just kept looking forward,” Fontaine said. “We just ran our press and kept our head in the game.”
“Lewiston is such a good team and they did a great job,” Edward Little coach Craig Jipson said. “We haven’t been pressed a lot this year, and I thought the press bothered us. We didn’t quite get to the middle, but Lewiston’s got great athletes. Eliasen on the top of the zone really bothered us and the Harris kid is tough inside.”
Harris scored back-to-back hoops inside as Lewiston tallied the first six points of the fourth quarter to rally to a 30-30 tie on Skylar Gaudette’s layup with 6:10 left.
But when Harris picked up her fourth foul during the sequence and had to go to the bench, Lewiston lost some of its aggressiveness at the offensive end.
“I was trying to give her a breather and keep her safe for the last half of that quarter,” Lewiston coach Lynn Girouard said. “She was going to the rim.”
Edward Little regained the lead on a Chantelle Ouellette hoop, then seemed to take command when Reynolds, hobbled by leg problems, blocked a pair of Lewiston shots, then went down to the other end to make it 34-30 with a hook shot.
“I give my kids credit. They showed a lot of courage down the stretch,” Jipson said. “The Reynolds girl is really hurting and I thought she played like a warrior. We really needed her for all 32 minutes tonight.”
“Jordyn hasn’t been practicing, but she came back and stepped up,” Fontaine said.
Free throws by Jade Perry (six points, nine rebounds) helped EL extend the lead to 36-30 before Harris returned to the game with 2:53 left.
Lewiston, which shot just 22 percent from the floor on the night, missed its last nine shots.
Fontaine came out firing for the Eddies as they built a 12-7 lead on the strength of a pair of her 3-pointers.
Fontaine was happy to find her rhythm early, especially with Lewiston packing the paint to defend Reynolds.
“It was pretty important because it kept us going and we stayed focused,” Fontaine said.
“Gabby Wilson did a great job defensively on (Reynolds). It was definitely a key,” Girouard said. “She’s a great post player. She plays your typical back-to-the-basket basketball. We defended her pretty well. I’m happy with our defensive effort. Holding a great team like that to 41 points is good for us.”
The Red Eddies led by seven after a Piper Norcross 3. Back-to-back hoops by Hannah Chaput pulled the Blue Devils within three, but Fontaine hit a pull-up jumper while being fouled and made the subsequent free throw with 1.6 seconds left to send EL into the locker room with a six-point halftime lead.
EL extended the margin to 27-17 midway through the third quarter.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
