A balanced attack propels Lewiston past Old Town.
LEWISTON – Missed shots and turnovers are an open invitation.
When you can’t buy a basket and you can’t control the ball, you’re playing right into the hands of the Lewiston girls’ basketball team. Old Town did just that Tuesday and watched the high-flying Blue Devils run away with a 54-36 win in an Eastern Class A preliminary contest.
Third-ranked Lewiston’s defense created havoc early, and the Blue Devils built a quick lead it maintained the rest of the way. The win advanced the Blue Devils to a Friday afternoon quarterfinal at the Bangor Auditorium.
“We’re very excited,” said guard Caitlin Anthoine. “When we go up there, we don’t want to go just once. We want to make it as far as we can.”
Lewiston, which reached the Western A regional final last year, got a well-balanced effort. Amanda Bryant led the team with 12 points, while Katie Morin and Kelsey Varney each added 10. Varney also had seven rebounds and six assists. Katie Nadeau added eight off the bench. Old Town got 10 each from Katie Bergeron and Kristi Mitchell.
“It’s the time of year where it’s one game and win or you’re gone,” said Lewiston coach Jim Hood. “We’re playing things right to the hilt. People have to be ready to come in. We sub people because we play an uptempo game. So people have to be ready. We tell them to go out there and go full speed.”
The Blue Devils (16-3) made quick work of the Indians thanks to its strong start. Lewiston built a 7-0 lead from the tip and had a 10-point advantage before the quarter ended.
“We knew we had to come out strong to get the lead in the beginning so we could keep the tempo up” said Anthoine. “We wanted to keep it going as long as we could.”
Old Town (4-15) was plagued by 13 turnovers in the first half and went 5-for-23 from the floor.
“As of late, I’ve tried to do some different things,” said Hood. “I decided to come out and see if we could apply a little pressure and see what would happen with them. We caused some problems for them.”
“Every turnover they had, we just went after it as much as we could and got the fast break layups,” said Anthoine.
An Ali Coleman basket gave the Blue Devils a 27-12 lead at the half. Lewiston opened the second half with a 16-5 run. Varney and Tracy Bradley each had five points during that stretch.
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.