BUCKFIELD – It took some doing to finally get any kind of lead, but once the Rangeley girls’ basketball team managed that Thursday night, the Lakers weren’t going to let it go.
Rangeley remained unbeaten and overcame an early deficit to beat an up-and-coming Buckfield squad, 41-31.
“We take a bit to settle in,” said Rangeley coach Heidi Deery, whose team fell behind 9-0 to start the game. “We’re slow starters so far, but we’ve been able to make the adjustment and get somewhat control of the game. I thought we showed a lot of composure in the second half, and that’s what we needed.”
The Lakers managed to take a two-point lead with 1:58 left in the third quarter. The Bucks hit just one field goal the rest of the game. Rangeley went on a 6-2 run to end the quarter and held the Bucks to a lone free throw in the fourth.
“Part of it is being young and trying to learn how to play with a lead,” said Buckfield coach Troy Eastman, whose club went 0-for-14 from the floor in the fourth quarter and hit just three shots in over two dozen attempts in the second half. “We have to compete for the whole game. We didn’t compete for the whole game. Defensively, we played pretty hard.”
Ashley Quimby led all scorers with 12 points for the Lakers (3-0). Nicole Crupi added nine. Buckfield (2-1) got 10 points from Lindsay Henderson and seven from Tiffany Dunn.
“We just knew we had to work and finish the game and play our game because we weren’t doing what we do in practice and in games past,” said Quimby. “We knew we had to do it, and we just had to pull ourselves out of the rut.”
After falling behind so quickly against the Bucks defense, the Lakers forced things offensively in the opening half to make up the deficit. Rangeley had a brief one-point lead in the second quarter but were down by 25-21 midway through the third.
“We didn’t need to go 90 miles per hour,” said Deery. “We needed to slow it down a little bit but still play with intensity.”
Rangeley tied the game twice in the third on a 3 by Quimby and a basket by Krista Jamison. Following a Tristen Newton free throw for the Bucks, an Abby Madeira score in the paint put Rangeley up for good, 29-28. Crupi added a free throw, and Quimby hit a jumper. Buckfield got an Abby Jones basket off an inbounds pass with 1:02 left, but the Bucks would muster just a single point the rest of the way.
“We settled in,” said Quimby. “We knew we had to keep playing the game and not force things and not rush it, We had to execute and do what we had to do to get the job done.”
Rangeley did a nice job on the boards and controlled the paint in the second half.
“A lot of the freshmen hadn’t played in a game like this,” said Eastman. “Just to go out and compete with those young kids, it’s good experience.”
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