AUBURN — After surrendering the lead early in the second quarter, Edward Little took it back and held it for the remainder of the game.
The Red Eddies went on a big run in the second quarter and later put away rival Lewiston to earn a 59-41 Class AA North girls basketball victory Thursday, in what was the final varsity girls basketball game at Edward Little’s 56-year old gym.
“They had the honor of being the last team to play on this court, and we made sure we stressed how important that was,” first-year Edward Little coach Kristina Blais, a Lewiston High School graduate, said. “They’ve really bought in to the program, as a whole, and the alumni, and everything that the program has held. It helps a lot, too, when you have two alumni on the staff, with Christina (Cifelli) and Coach Jordyn (Reynolds).”
Beginning next season, the Eddies will have a new gym, which is being built as part of the new Edward Little High School.
The Red Eddies (7-11) got off to a solid start Thursday, as Aiwen Maiwen scored the game’s first five points.
After that the first quarter was a back-and-forth battle. Lewiston (4-14) stormed back on 3-pointers by Natalie Beaudoin and Koral Morin to take a 6-5 lead. Then with the game tied 8-8 and just over a minute left in the opening quarter, Lewiston’s Bailey Tardif-Mockler and Edward Little’s Rachel Penny traded 3s.
Penny then put the Red Eddies ahead with a layup off a turnover, and later, out of a Lewiston timeout, she stole the ball and dished to Saphryn Humason-Fulgham for another layup.
Morin cut the deficit to 15-14 with a 3, and that’s how the first quarter came to a close.
Lewiston took the lead back early in the second. Natalie Beaudoin tied the game with a free throw, then Ella Beaudoin’s basket 32 seconds in made it 17-15.
The Blue Devils, however, were scoreless for the next 5 minutes, 47 seconds, while the Red Eddies went on a 15-0 run. Layla Facchiano was the catalyst, dropping in six points during the scoring streak.
“Layla is incredible,” Blais said. “She can turn it on. And when she does, she makes the rest of her team a lot better, because they start collapsing and then our 3s start opening up, bigs start opening up. Everything else just opens up when Layla’s on.”
Natalie Beaudoin ended the Blue Devils’ drought with 1:41 left before halftime, and Lewiston was able to get within single digits and trailed 31-22 at halftime.
“You know, all year long we’ve just struggled to score,” Lewiston coach Craig Jipson, who previously spent more than a decade as Edward Little’s coach, said. “And we had some decent shots of our own (during the drought), and we just couldn’t score. You know, we didn’t put any baskets in, too many kind of silly turnovers. But they absolutely wore us out physically. They just are able to play 10 kids, and we can’t go 10 deep.”
Ella Beaudoin hit two 3s in the first 90 seconds of the third quarter, but the Red Eddies kept responding with balanced scoring to keep the Blue Devils at an arm’s length.
“We cut it to six and we just kind of ran out of gas,” Jipson said. “But I really liked down the stretch, the kids kept playing hard. I thought that really honored the game, and honored the gym, how hard both teams played.”
Blais said that the Red Eddies’ depth has become one of their biggest strengths.
“We’re deep. And at any given time, someone can step up. And if someone else is off, or someone’s being faceguarded, that’s when the next man steps up,” she said. “And that’s just what a good team does.”
Edward Little led 46-36 heading into the fourth quarter, then finally pulled away. Penny’s 3 with six minutes left was the first dagger, making it 51-38. Consecutive 3s by Savannah Green later pushed the lead to 59-39.
“All the emotions, between the rivalry, the last game here, we wanted to end it right,” Edward Little junior Tess Robbins said.
“We’ve been battling (to put) four quarters together all year long — I would still argue we did today, as well,” Blais said. “But that fourth quarter, that’s when you got to take over. There was no other option, honestly. There was no other option but to just take over on your home court on the last game. So they rose to the occasion. I’m pretty proud of them.”
Maiwen, a senior, finished with a team-high 12 points for Edward Little. Robbins, who after the game was named the recipient of the inaugural Tammy Paradie Thibeault Award, scored nine points, while Facchiano, Penney, Green and Humason-Fulgham each scored eight points.
Robbins said receiving the inaugural Tammy Paradie Thibeault Award was unexpected, but an honor.
“It definitely means a lot that the coaching staff and the players all think of me that way, so it means a lot,” she said.
Blais noted that Robbins began the season as a student-coach after dealing with concussions prior to the campaign.
“She took that role on,” Blais said. “Tess is someone that is almost too unselfish at times, but she constantly is leading by example. And if you look up what a good teammate looks like in the dictionary, it’s her. All the way around.”
Morin led Lewiston with 12 points. Ella Beaudoin added nine and Natalie Beaudoin finished with eight.
“We had a lot of special memories in this gym. To get to coach in the last game, it was an honor,” Jipson said. “I thought my Lewiston kids played really hard. EL beat us up on the boards. We knew going in they had a lot of size and strength, and they’re much deeper than we are. But I thought my kids were warriors out there. They really battled.
“And all my years I coached in the EL gym, I thought I had tough kids. I thought my Lewiston kids were really tough tonight.”
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