Oxford Hills’ Cassidy Dumont goes up for a shot against the defense of Edward Little’s Grace Fontaine, behind, and Jade Perry (12) during Friday’s game in Paris. (Brewster Burns photo)
PARIS — Just as it seemed that Edward Little was starting to find its stride, Oxford Hills hit one of its own.
And never stopped.
With the game tied early in the third quarter after an EL rally, the Vikings went on a 19-1 run to take control and never give it back in a 50-32 Class AA North girls’ basketball victory Friday night.
Vikings (11-2) coach Nate Pelletier said his team showed a killer instinct that its been trying to develop all season.
“Once we hit that fourth-quarter stride, and started hitting some shots, it was going to be very tough for them to come back,” Pelletier said.
The Vikings hit five of their nine 3-pointers in the final 12 minutes of the game.
“I feel like they missed shots, but we gave them a lot of second chances in that little run that they had. And then we never really could recover from that,” EL coach Chris Cifelli said. “And give them credit, we had some breakdowns defensively and they knocked down some 3-pointers. And some kids who don’t shoot a lot of 3-pointers for them they came up big.”
Six different players scored for Oxford Hills, and each one of them made at least one 3-pointer and scored five or more points.
Julia Colby had that many points in the first couple minutes of the game to stake the Vikings to an early lead. Once the Red Eddies (7-5) stopped turning the ball over, they went on a 6-0 run with a layup from Hannah Chaput and two baskets by Grace Fontaine to take the lead.
Oxford Hills countered back with a floater by Bailey Whitney, a Colby 3 and a Whitney layup with five seconds left to make it 12-6 Vikings after one.
“We bring the intensity that we need to. I think that’s really what we needed. We were able to put a little pressure on them, turn them over a couple times,” Pelletier said. “Jules hit a couple shots early for us. But we knew they were going to fight back at some point. The key was can we hold off on that and then make another run, and we were able to do that.”
The Vikings stretched their lead to 19-8 on Cassidy Dumont’s steal and layup just over two minutes into the second. A Cecelia Dieterich block gave the home fans a reason to roar, but Chantel Ouellette quieted them with a 3 for EL that started the ball of momentum back rolling in the Red Eddies’ favor.
A Chaput 3 and Caroline Hammond jumper narrowed things to 19-16, only for Dieterich to hit a 3 of her own to provide some relief for Oxford Hills. Jade Perry’s putback with less than 30 seconds before half made it 22-18, and that score stood at the intermission.
“At the end of the first half, I think we started to feel a little more comfortable going to the basket, and we just kind of got away from it in the second half,” Cifelli said. “We took kind of like the path of least resistance on too many trips.”
Dietrich and the Vikings had a rough start to the second half. The junior guard missed a contested layup to open the third, then picked up her third foul in the backcourt while Oxford Hills was implementing a full-court press, sending her to the bench for the remainder of the period.
Ouellette made a runner from the baseline, then after Perry blocked shots on consecutive possessions and Hammond nailed a jumper to tie the game 22-22.
Colby grabbed a rebound and made the putback shot to give Oxford Hills the lead back, and the Vikings sped away from there.
“When you’re up against a team who’s hitting so many shots, you know, it’s just hard that you work your butt off to get your basket and then we give up an easy 3,” Cifelli said. “It’s so deflating.”
Colby led all scorers with 13 points, while Dieterich had 10 and Whitney nine. Fontaine paced EL with 10 points, and Chaput added eight.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Oxford Hills’ Cecelia Dieterich drives to the basket through Edward Little defenders, from left, Jade Perry, Hannah Chaput and Emily Piper during Friday’s game in Paris. (Brewster Burns photo)
Edward Little’s Hannah Chaput and Oxford Hills’ Bailey Whitney battles for the ball during Friday’s game in Paris. (Brewster Burns photo)
Edward Little’s Jade Perry looks for an open teammate while being guarded by Oxford Hills’ Jade Smedburg and Bailey Whitney during Friday’s game in Paris. (Brewster Burns photo)
Marcus Stone, Keegan Watson and Ty LeBlond, from left, celebrate an Oxford Hills 3-pointer during Friday’s game against Edward Little in Paris. (Brewster Burns photo)
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