Girls basketball: Oxford Hills starts fast, speeds away from Lewiston

PARIS — Oxford Hills seized control early and maintained it throughout its 75-34 victory over Lewiston in a Class AA North girls basketball game Tuesday.

“We were pushing the tempo, I mean, the energy was insane, and we just played really good basketball today,” Vikings sophomore Ella Pelletier said.

Tristen Derenburger hit a 3-pointer on the Vikings’ first possession of the game, then Lewiston answered on its first possession with a jumper by Natalie Beaudoin.

After that, the Vikings (2-0) made sure offense didn’t come easy for the Blue Devils (0-2) for the remainder of the first half.

Oxford Hills turned to a three-quarter-court press that resulted in steals by Ella Pelletier and quickly the Vikings’ lead was up to 9-2.

“She reads the ball really well,” Oxford Hills coach Nate Pelletier said. “When you have some back people that can read where the ball’s going, they can get a lot of those steals.”

He added: “We were able to get a couple steals out of that to really break that lead out.”

Beaudoin added another bucket later in the first, but following the early exchange of baskets by both teams, Oxford Hills went on a 21-2 run and led 24-4 after the opening quarter.

The Vikings also were hitting from long range in the first. Sierra Carson drained three 3s and scored 11 points, and Derenburger hit two treys for six points. Pelletier added seven points.

Carson scored six and Maddy Herrick came off the bench to score five in the second quarter, during which Oxford Hills’ lead grew to 44-8.

“Oxford Hills is a great team. They’re one of the premier teams in the state right now,” Lewiston coach Craig Jipson said. “Carson, Pelletier: phenomenal basketball players. Coach Pelletier did a great job.

“We just have to get a lot better.”

Lewiston played much better after halftime. Beaudoin scored nine of her team-high 16 points, Koral Morin hit a 3 and Ayanay Holloman made a basket as the Blue Devils put up 14 points in the third quarter.

They weren’t able to chip away at Oxford Hills’ lead, though, because Derenburger drained three treys and scored 11 of her 20 points.

Derenburger has made five 3-pointers in each of the Vikings’ games this season.

“Tristen’s just been on fire lately,” Ella Pelletier said. “Anytime you kick to her, you know it’s going in. It’s been amazing.”

Both teams scored 12 points in the fourth. Herrick scored six more points to finish with 13.

“Maddy Herrick had a heck of a game,” Nate Pelletier said. “She’s one of those kids that doesn’t look like a post or have a lot of size, but she’ll go get rebounds, can finish around the hoop.”

The Vikings were missing three players due to injury or illness — including Maddy Miller, who scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the season-opening win over Edward Little — and Oxford Hills coach Nate Pelletier said that he was excited to see Herrick and other players step up and play well. He also praised the defense of Ashley Richardson. Madalyn Oliveira and Maddalyn Stack also played a lot of minutes off the bench.

“I just love that we have these kids that want to step into those roles,” Nate Pelletier said.

Lewiston freshman Ella Beaudoin hit a 3, successfully converted an and-1, and made another free throw to score seven of her nine points in the final quarter.

Jipson said other players also showed growth in the final period. When Gabby Roman came out of the game in the fourth quarter, he walked over to where she sat on the bench and praised her improved play over the course of the game.

“We’ve got to get some confidence. I liked how some kids still fought in the fourth quarter,” Jipson said. “We just got to get a lot better. We’ve got a lot of inexperienced players, a lot of kids who haven’t played a lot of varsity minutes, and there’s kids that are getting thrown into the fire.”