WALES — Mt. Abram started Friday’s game a seven-point scoring run, and maintained a consistent lead the entire game on its way to a 47-28 girls basketball win over Oak Hill.
“I think it’s always great to get a win on the road,” said Mt. Abram assistant coach Sherra Osgood, speaking for head coach Jason Wing. “The girls are really coming alive, and I feel like they’re working hard. We’re a young team, we have a lot of growth, but I’m super proud. A win is a win.”
Jenna Osgood, who score a game-high 19 points, started the scoring with a basket for Mt. Abram (4-3) just 40 seconds into the first quarter.
“It was a good shooting night for me. Usually it’s one of us, and it was me tonight,” Jenna Osgood said. “I thought it was great.”
Neither team added points to the board after for another two minutes, then Kharlie Turner and Abby McCarty continued the Roadrunners’ scoring run with a bucket apiece.
Michaela Pontbriad (six points) hit a free throw to finally end the Raiders’ scoring drought.
Bailea Haines added another field goal for the Roadrunners, on a seamless offensive transition from half-court, in the final two minutes of the first quarter.
Haylee Harris chipped in the only other Oak Hill points with a bucket in the final 35 seconds of the first quarter, bringing the score to 11-3.
“We’ve worked with the girls a lot in practice on moving the ball around and finding the open shot and taking the high percentage shot, so I feel like they did that well tonight,” Sherra Osgood said. “They’re very unselfish team, they like to work together, and on any given night any of our girls could be double-digits. We just never know who was going to step up on any given night.”
The second quarter was a physical, defensive battle. Both coaches said their teams play a more aggressive defense, so the level of pressure was not out of the ordinary. Oak Hill coach Chuck Cullins said he teaches the Raiders to play a high-pressure, full-court defense.
“I think our girls are physical. I think they match up with any team that’s physical, so we’re kind of used to it,” Sherra Osgood said. “Tonight wasn’t anything that we hadn’t seen or experienced in the past.”
Jenna Osgood found success in the second quarter with three 3-pointers — nearly consecutively — kick-starting a strong offensive quarter for the Roadrunners. She also finished on 3 of her 4 free throw attempts.
“Swinging the ball around relieves the pressure, and it definitely worked for us tonight,” Jenna Osgood said. “Usually on our our breakaways it’s a steal on man and then we have a guard running, usually it’s Abby McCarty.”
The Raiders failed to add any points in the second quarter, despite multiple shots taken, most within 3-pointer range. Going into the half, the Roadrunners were up 29-3.
One minute in to the third quarter, Osgood stole the ball from Oak Hill and quickly passed it to McKenzie Contreras, who tallied a fast-break basket.
Oak Hill outscored Mt. Abram in the third quarter 9-6. Pontbriand made a two more free throws and scored four points, Madalyn Sikora added three points and Kendall Theriault chipped in two.
“We just need to get over that hump and get that first win for confidence builders,” Cullins said. “We don’t have it and all, but I think we had it tonight coming on to the second half, and I’m really proud of my kids.”
Mt. Abram’s Vega Rollins closed the third-quarter scoring on a fast break basket with one minute remaining, and the Roadrunners went in to the final quarter leading 35-12.
The Raiders generated more points in the fourth quarter, with Theriault and Mackenzee Wardwell contributing 3-pointers back-to-back-to-back. Though the offensive momentum picked up for Oak Hill, which outscored Mt. Abram 16-12 in the fourth, there
was not enough time left in the game for a full comeback.
“We just applied that pressure, the girls hit a couple of 3s, built a momentum off that, and we just started coming up the floor and started playing with a little intensity, and the girls really dug in and responded to it,” Cullins said. “That was a really good whole second half for us, we won the second half, points wise, and we didn’t give up a lot.”
Contreras, Osgood, Ruthie Gusler and McCarty scored in the fourth for the Roadrunners.
Theriault led Oak Hills with eight points, while Wardell scored seven and Pontbriand had six.
Along with Jenna Osgood’s 19-point effort for Mt. Abram, Contreras tallied six points, McCarty had five and Haines, Turner and Sakari Savage contributed four apiece.
“We’re a well-rounded team, so I feel like all the girls tend to contribute in some way,” Sherra Osgood said. “Obviously our sophomore Jenna Osgood had a fantastic night. We’ve got a couple of juniors that worked super hard defensively and very unselfish. Abby McCarty, our sophomore, is just a spark plug for us on defense and so is Kenzie Contreras.”
“I just thought was a great team night,” Jenna Osgood said. “We worked hard and I love to play with my girls.”
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