AUBURN — The early part of the game might have been the most important when Waynflete and St. Dominic Academy met Thursday.
The Flyers took control early and maintained it throughout the contest on their way to a 46-18 victory over the Saints in a matchup of two young Western Maine Conference girls basketball teams.
St. Dom’s (2-10) and Waynflete (3-10) entered the game with only two victories each — the Flyers, in fact, had lost 10 straight since opening the season with a 2-0 record.
“It was a long time coming,” Waynflete coach Andrew Leach said. “That first opening weekend, we got our first two wins of the season; it’s been a tough schedule the rest of the way.
“But we’ve never stopped playing hard, consistent basketball and playing with intensity, which has been great, and they’ve stayed consistent and resilient in that, and it showed today, just pouring everything into this game. I’m so proud of the effort and energy out there, for sure. Incredible.”
After nearly two scoreless minutes to start the game, Waynflete’s Maeve Mechtenberg ended the scoreless stalemate with a 3-pointer. She made another trey a couple of minutes later to increase the Flyers’ lead to 10-0.
“It’s huge, it’s huge,” Leach said of the early lead. “Our offense has struggled five-on-five, so we’ve built everything around trying to play intense defense, full-court pressure, to find three-on-two opportunities, and to find either quick layups or 3-pointers.
“And Maeve shoots. She’s a shooter. And, finally, those shots are going in, and she’s feeling good, the team’s feeling good about it.”
The Flyers scored the first 12 points in each of the first two quarters and took a 24-5 advantage into halftime.
“We didn’t play our best game, we had a lot of turnovers,” St. Dom’s coach Lexy Grondin said, “but we’re very young, so we’re getting used to it. We have a lot of potential, but we need to get better at handling the ball.”
Mechtenberg also made 3s early in the second and third quarters and finished with a game-high 14 points. Lauren McNutt-Girouard added 12 and Lucy Hart scored eight for the Flyers.
Ava Apodaca was the Saints’ (2-10) leading scorer with seven points, and Avery Gravel contributed six.
Gravel scored St. Dom’s first points in the final seconds of the first quarter. After scoring their 12 second-quarter points, the Flyers were held scoreless for the final three and a half minutes. Charli Apodaca scored three points during the span for the Saints.
St. Dom’s played better in the second half, scoring seven points in the third quarter and six in the fourth.
Ava Apodaca, the Saints’ lone senior, made a 3-pointer and another basket in the third and added a couple of free throws in the fourth.
“I was impressed with Ava,” Grondin said. “She stepped up as a leader and as our senior, and when I told her she needed to score, she started to look for herself.”
The Flyers added to their lead in the second half, paced by Mechtenberg’s five points in the third quarter and a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth by McNutt-Girouard, the daughter of former Lewiston High School and Central Maine Community College standout Lynn Girouard.
McNutt-Girouard, a sophomore, is in her first season playing for Waynflete.
“She’s playing big minutes for us as a sophomore,” Leach said. “She’s got a great set shot. She’s just coming back to playing the game, she wasn’t with us last year, and you can see the confidence building.”
Added Leach: “She’s an incredible player to have coming off the bench.”
Both teams only played one senior Thursday. While Waynflete has several juniors, St. Dom’s has only two. The Saints also play three eighth-graders: Chloe Croteau (two points), Piper Croteau and Chloe LaPrell.
“I’m also impressed with the three eighth-graders, for coming into the game and playing as good as they did,” Grondin said.
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