The Ramblers race out to a 27-4 lead by halftime and coast to a 54-23 victory in Class C.
KENTS HILL – Meet the Winthrop High School Ramblers, official welcoming committee for independent prep schools moving up in class and hoping to make waves in the Western Class C girls’ basketball tournament.
Last February, Hyde School entered the quarterfinals with a gaudy record only to be shown the door by an army of gatekeepers wearing green-and-white. This year, it was Kents Hill sporting the unbeaten mark but having precious little chance to compete with Winthrop’s depth and defensive pressure in a preliminary game.
No. 10 Winthrop held No. 7 Kents Hill to four points in the first half of an authoritative 54-23 victory at Hawley Gym on Tuesday evening. It earned one of the Ramblers’ youngest teams in memory what has become the program’s customary annual trip to Augusta Civic Center for the next round.
Sophomore forward Emilie Knight led Winthrop with 16 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Kate Pushard chalked up nine points. Abby Cobb and Anna Warner added seven apiece.
Flaunting only three seniors, the Ramblers (11-8) have won 10 of their last 12 games.
“February vacation traditionally is not a break in Winthrop,” Ramblers coach Lonney Steeves said. “When we started off 1-6, our goal was still to make it to the civic center.”
Winthrop will have its third crack at No. 2 Hall-Dale in next Tuesday’s quarterfinals at 3:30 p.m. In their second meeting of the season, the Ramblers rallied from a 19-point deficit to snag a six-point lead late in the game, only to watch the Bulldogs roar back for a regular-season sweep.
“I want to beat them so bad,” Knight said.
There were no such drastic momentum swings in this one. Winthrop administered a tranquilizing dose of Mountain Valley Conference basketball in the first half, frequently keeping Kents Hill, which played a predominantly Class D schedule, from crossing the time line.
“We felt we could pressure them. One thing we’ve done well is play an up-tempo game,” Steeves said.
On the Huskies’ first possession, Olivia Clukey lobbed the ball inside to Aleigh Mills for an easy lay-up. That was significant, because the next time Kents Hill (13-1) produced a field goal, less than five minutes remained in the third quarter.
Even while missing nine of its first 13 shots, Winthrop waltzed to an 11-3 lead at the end of one. Knight delivered seven points in the second period. Jackie Gershman-Mannochi ended Kents Hill’s drought by sinking a free throw with 2.8 seconds left in the half, but it merely shrank the Ramblers’ spacious halftime advantage to 27-4.
“We started off slowly. It was kind of like the start of the season. We started off kind of dead,” said Knight, “but we’ve gotten better lately.”
Gershman-Mannochi led the Huskies with 12 points.
Winthrop harassed Kents Hill into 39 turnovers and 8-for-26 shooting from the floor.
“We have a lot of young kids, and it took us a while to get going. We usually have two good options defensively,” Steeves said. “Our straight man-to-man wasn’t working, but our zone was pretty successful.”
Good enough to douse the playoff dreams of another unfamiliar foe.
koakes@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.