Kelsey Varney has 21 points and 10 rebounds as Lewiston tops Mt. Blue.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Apparently the first five shots of the second quarter were just warm ups.

After missing five straight tries to open the second quarter Friday night, the Lewiston’s offense suddenly ignited. The Blue Devils proved just how fast and often they could score and there was little the Mt. Blue Cougars could do about it.

As hard as the Mt. Blue had tried to stay with Lewiston for much of the opening half, the Blue Devils managed to race away in the second quarter with a spurt that led to a 71-60 win in a KVAC girls’ basketball opener.

“We got 71 points. That’s a good opener,” said Lewiston coach Jim Hood. “I thought we played well, and we moved the ball well. We were moving the ball down the floor, and we utilized our speed real well.”

Lewiston has much of the team back that reached the Western A final last year, and the Blue Devils experience and continuity showed against a younger Mt. Blue club. When Lewiston got its running game going and used its defense to thwart the Cougars, Mt. Blue struggled to keep pace.

“I think, overall, because we’re not starting from ground zero, and we’re starting in the middle somewhere, we’ll be a better team just because we know what we’re trying to do,” said Hood.

Lewiston had four players hit double figures. Kelsey Varney led the team with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Amanda Bryant had 20 points. Caitlin Anthoine added 12 while Katie Morin had 10 points and seven rebounds. Lewiston also got some strong bench contributions early from Lindsey Foster, Allyson St. Pierre and Kim Bechard, who chipped in four points in the opening quarter.

Amy Mansir led the Cougars with 20 points, including five 3’s. Heather Groder had 12 while Christina Mosher added 12.

“We’re still very young in our gameplan,” said Mt. Blue coach Jeannine Beaulieu, who has just four seniors on the team. “We need to step it up defensively. We’re still learning. We’re getting there. It’s definitely still a building year.”

The Cougars trailed 18-17 after the first quarter. Though Lewiston missed five straight to open the second, the Blue Devils quickly heated up, hitting five of its next six shots. Meanwhile, Mt. Blue struggled to counter. The Cougars shot 2-for-14 and had 12 turnovers in the quarter.

“Before that they were staying with it and then they were kind of getting behind a little bit,” said Hood of the up-tempo game. “We were able to get an edge and maybe get a foul here or there.”

A 13-2 run, aided by consecutive backcourt violations by Mt. Blue, helped Lewiston open the lead. After Anthoine hit two free throws, Varney scored inside, and Bryant drilled a 3. Lewiston had scored eight points for a 25-17 lead before the Cougars even managed a shot in the second quarter.

“We have the horses to run,” said Beaulieu, who has two players recovering from knee injuries. “We just need to get everybody up to speed. We’re dealing with fatigued based on having the extra piece of hardware. That slows us down a bit.”

After the Cougars got a Groder basket, Lewiston got a Bryant hoop and a pair of baskets by Varney. Mt. Blue didn’t get another field goal for almost four minutes as Lewiston built a 12-point lead.

Mosher sparked a late rally in the fourth with eight points to cut the lead to 61-55. Mt. Blue was halted there, however. Anthoine hit a jumper. Then two Bryant free throws and a Varney three-point play bumped the lead up again.

“They made that little run and started coming at us in the fourth quarter,” said Hood. “We stepped up and started to control the game again a little bit.”

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