AUBURN — Windham shrugged off Edward Little’s tenacity and used its passing and rebounding to collect a 42-30 victory over the Red Eddies in a Class AA North girls basketball game Friday night.
Senior guard Abbey Thornton led the Eagles (6-5) with 14 points, followed by Elizabeth Levesque’s nine points. The Red Eddies (3-9) were led by Aiwen Maiwen (nine points) and Rachel Penny (eight).
Both teams knocked each other around the entire game, but the Eagles took their lumps inside the key to give their team the edge despite Edward Little’s grit.
“I thought we did a good job staying composed,” Windham coach Brody Artes said. “Edward Little plays a really high-intensity game, and they really want to play upbeat and play fast-paced. I thought we really did a good job at staying organized and composed — especially down the stretch.
“But I was really happy with our defensives tonight and we converted into transition when we needed to, and I thought we did a good job overall just kind of handling the pressure of the game. I am just happy with the overall effort.”
The Eagles moved out to a 9-4 lead after senior Kylie Garrison hit the front end of a 1-and-1 at the foul line with less than three minutes left in a turnover-prone first quarter. Edward Little drew to within 9-6 at the end of the period.
Windham started to slip away from the Red Eddies in the second quarter, with Edward Little struggling to put the ball in the basket.
Turnovers continued to be an issue with both teams, with the Red Eddies committing 23 turnovers and Windham making 18.
Thornton broke free and drove to the net to put the Eagles out on top 14-6 three minutes into the second quarter. Thorton took advantage of a turnover and went right to the hoop again to make it 19-7. Windham widened its advantage with another basket and took a 21-7 lead into halftime.
Turnovers and missed opportunities on offense haunted the Red Eddies, who scored one point after Aiwen Maiwen hit a foul shot as the second quarter ended.
“We just need to figure out how to put the ball through the net,” Edward Little coach Kristina Blais said. “That is something that we have collectively struggled with, and we were adding back a few pieces right now and I think once we can just put it all together, I think it is going to be beautiful and the kids are starting to buy in…
“The beautiful moments are the way they fight. You can tell how much they love the game and their passion is there, and they just now have to figure out how to do it from start to finish.”
The Red Eddies’ offense continued to sputter despite sophomore guard Penny’s back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter. But the Eddies came alive when Violet Vincent scored two points, Maiwen came up with two points of her team-leading scoring output on her drive and Olivia Coachman scored to make it 34-22, but it wasn’t enough with the Eagles still holding the upper hand.
Windham took a 38-22 lead into the fourth quarter, and the Eagles were able to keep the Red Eddies at an arm’s length in the final period.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
