Edward Little’s Grace Fontaine shoots the ball as Lewiston’s Myah Nicolas attempts to block during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
LEWISTON — Edward Little broke open its rivalry matchup with Lewiston in the second quarter, and cruised to a 56-36 win Wednesday night.
The Blue Devils scored a basket in the first and last minutes of the second, but in between were outscored by the Red Eddies 11-0.
“We made some great defensive stands in the first half, and just got a little more comfortable in getting the game at our pace. We really wanted to run the floor as much as we could, ” Edward Little coach Chris Cifelli said.
While Edward Little’s pressure defense was holding Lewiston scoreless, its halfcourt offense was finding holes in the Blue Devils’ defense.
Piper Norcross set up Jade Perry for a bucket, and a few minutes later she did likewise to Julia Milks, who was wide open under the hoop. Grace Fontaine found Milks again open near the hoop for another two points, and Grace Beaudet scored a layup off a Perry pass.
A driving basket by Perry and a free throw by Fontaine capped the 11-0 run.
“We were able to spread them out even in the halfcourt and got two or three layups,” Cifelli said.
The Blue Devils trailed at halftime of their first game against Bangor but came back to defeat Bangor. They tried to bounce back again Wednesday, and played much better in the third quarter, but their comeback attempt never got serious due to four 3-pointers in the period by Edward Little — two by Norcross and one apiece from Beaudet and Caroline Hammond.
The Red Eddies drained three more treys — Fontaine, Perry and Milks — in the fourth quarter.
“Gosh, everyone on their bench was hitting a 3,” Lewiston coach Lynn Girouard said.
Fontaine led all scorers with 12 points. She was stuck on the bench the entire third quarter and much of the fourth quarter after picking up four fouls in the first half. Cifelli said he would have removed Fontaine sooner in the first half, but the Edward Little coaches thought she had one less foul.
While Fontaine’s aggressiveness put her in foul trouble, it also disrupted Lewiston’s offense.
“She really tries hard on both ends of the floor and she takes her job seriously as a defender,” Cifelli said, “and really does try to create such havoc up front for us that some of the turnovers the other kids get, she’s actually the one who creates it with a deflection or a blind pass.”
Norcross and Hannah Chaput each added nine for Edward Little (2-0) and Perry scored seven.
“It’s tough playing EL the second game of the season. Usually, we have a few games to build up, and we usually play them in the middle and then towards the end,” Girouard said. “I think it threw us off a little bit, but all the credit to Edward Little, they played a great basketball game.”
Lewiston’s Victoria Harris was battling illness but still put up a team-high 10 points. Cece Racine finished with nine and Maddy Foster had eight.
“We just got to get more defensive stops,” Girouard said. ‘We had a lot of defensive letdowns tonight, which you can’t do against a great basketball team.”
Lewiston (1-1) hosts Deering (0-1) on Friday, the Blue Devils’ third straight home game to start the season.
Edward Little, on the other hand, opens with four straight road games. Next up is a game at Cheverus (0-1) on Friday.
Edward Little’s Chantel Ouellette goes up for a basket as Lewiston’s Maddy Foster and Victoria Harris play defense during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Edward Little’s Maddy Foster tries to blast past Lewiston’s Jade Perry during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Lewiston’s Jamyah Nicolas driblles down the court with Edward Little’s Hannah Chaput keeping the pressure on during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Edward Little’s Julia Milks looks for a teammate to pass the ball to, past Lewiston’s Victoria Harris during Wednesday night’s basketball game in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
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