AUBURN — Koral Morin seemingly couldn’t miss in the second quarter.
The Lewiston sophomore scored 11 consecutive points and spurred the Blue Devils to a huge second period en route to a 51-29 girls basketball victory over rival Edward Little on Friday.
“I put in the time outside of practice, in practice, to improve and I work hard,” Morin said. “I was just trying to shoot with confidence and not let the noise get to me.”
Lewiston (1-1) took control of the game early and jumped out to a 10-2 lead. Natalie Beaudoin and Morin each hit a 3-pointer and Aiwen Maiwen scored a couple baskets at the hoop.
The Red Eddies (0-3), though, quickly pulled back into the game, as five players scored during a tw0-minute stretch to cut the deficit to 12-11.
Lewiston’s lead was 15-11 heading into the second quarter.
Then Morin took over, hitting three 3-pointers in a row to help Lewiston outscore Edward Little 16-2 in the period.
Morin, who scored a game-high 19 points, said that Blue Devils coach Craig Jipson encourages her to shoot when she is open.
Lewiston’s Koral Morin takes her shot past Edward Little’s Erin Cowie during Friday night’s game in Auburn. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
“He said if you’re open to shoot with confidence, and if you’re not, look for your teammates,” Morin said. “I owe it to my teammates, they got me some really good looks, and to God, he gives me confidence.”
Maiwen and Masya Way got in foul trouble at the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter, and had to spend a lot of the second sitting on the bench. Morin’s 11 points and five from Beaudoin more than made up for their absences.
“(Morin) shot the lights out and really carried us in the second quarter,” Jipson said. “I am really pleased because Aiwen and Masya were in foul trouble, and we could sit them in part because of Koral. Natalie had to play post defense instead of guard, and I was really, really happy with our defense.”
The Blue Devils didn’t quite maintain the momentum in the third quarter. But the Eddies struggled to make up ground. Both teams created turnovers and neither team shot particularly well in the period.
“I just think that in the third we had the opportunity to get back in the game but we didn’t make the most of our opportunities,” Edward Little coach Chris Cifelli said. “I think we forced shots and I think it was a combination of frustration and some clock watching, and so some shots were rushed. It’s not to say we were having a comeback, but our opportunity to comeback was in the third and we didn’t take advantage of it.”
Lewiston outscored Edward Little 9-0 in the third, but only had two points through the first 6:40 of the quarter. Beaudoin saved the third-quarter shutout with a chase-down block of Edward Little’s Madi Turcotte with 1:46 remaining.
“Defensively, in the third we did great,” Jipson said. “We needed to do a little better getting to shooters, but we just aren’t very deep. Overall, defensively, they had a very good night.”
Edward Little scored 16 points in the fourth quarter, paced by four of Jenny Chaput’s team-high seven points. Rachel Penny also scored seven points for the Red Eddies.
Cifelli said that the Eddies showed some positive flashes, but they need to stretch them into positive moments.
“I think we have a lot to work on,” Cifelli said. “We have a lot of soul searching to do, I think we have some definite things to make a decision on, the things we are going to try to maximize, the things we do well, and then try to get better at the things we don’t do so well. I think we have flashes of brilliance at times where there’s a lot of potential, but we have to sustain the longer periods of better play that we were having.”
Jipson said he was happy with how the Blue Devils bounced back from their loss to Oxford Hills earlier this week.
“I loved how we bounced back, showed a lot of character tonight,” Jipson said. “To play your rival is always hard, and they didn’t go to school today because of a situation at school so I think that was weighing on their minds tonight. They showed a lot of maturity.”
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