AUBURN — At halftime, coach Kristina Blais told the Edward Little players they needed to play better.
The Red Eddies did, fighting back to force overtime. Before the extra period, Blais’ message was a lot different.
“I told them that they deserve it. They’ve been working hard,” Blais said.
Edward Little never trailed in overtime and turned its second-half comeback into a 59-54 victory over rival Lewiston in a Class AA North girls basketball season finale on Thursday.
“At halftime, when we went in that locker room, we got our butts chewed out,” Jenny Chaput said. “And we came out here and we were just so determined that we were going to win. And we pulled it off in overtime.”
The Red Eddies’ (6-12) determination to win was exhibited by Chaput, a senior, who stole the ball away seven seconds into overtime, and after drawing a foul she made a free throw that gave Edward Little a 51-50 lead.
“I have a lot of friends across the bridge, and I was so determined,” Chaput said. “I was like, ‘We want this, and we need to pull this off as a team,’ and we did it, and that’s all that matters.”
Rachel Penny scored off an inbound pass from Layla Facchiano to give the Eddies a three-point lead less than 45 seconds into OT.
Facchiano went into attack mode to seal the victory, scoring Edward Little’s final six points by driving right at Lewiston’s (9-9) defense.
“We love each other so much,” Facchiano said. “We pulled through for our seniors, on our new home court, our last home game. We just really wanted to do it for our seniors.
“Losing tonight was not an option.”
Facchiano led Edward Little with 18 points. She also grabbed nine rebounds and made five steals.
Chaput was a force near the basket at both ends of the court, scoring 16 points and pulling down 12 boards. Penny finished with 14 points, all of them after halftime, and seven rebounds.
Saphryn Humason-Fulgham (seven rebounds) and Savannah Green also made important hustle plays for Edward Little down the stretch.
“All of our leaders stepped up exactly how and when we needed them to,” Blais said.
The Red Eddies’ strong finish canceled out a slow start.
The game started with the Blue Devils helping to honor Edward Little senior Tess Robbins, who couldn’t play in the final home game of her career due to injury. Robbins was in the starting lineup, and Lewiston let the Red Eddies win the tip and pass the ball to Robbins near the hoop for a layup.
At the other end, Edward Little allowed an easy layup by Lewiston’s Ellie Legare. Then Robbins checked out to hugs from her teammates.
“That was a very sentimental moment for me,” Chaput said. “I’ve been playing with her for over 13 years, so it was, just, meant everything that she could do that.”
After that, both teams amped up their intensity and showed how important beating their rival was.
Lewiston took about three minutes to find its rhythm, then scored seven straight points and finished the opening quarter on a 17-5 run.
During an action-packed stretch of the first period, every basket Edward Little scored was answered with something better by Lewiston, whether it be multiple baskets or 3-pointers from Ella Beaudoin and Legare.
After one quarter, the Blue Devils led 19-9.
They maintained control in the second quarter. Lewiston’s ball movement kept the Red Eddies scrambling on defense and resulted in open shots. On defense, the Blue Devils’ energy kept Edward Little from making a dent in its deficit.
Lewiston led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter, and took a 32-18 lead into the halftime break.
Lewiston’s Natalie Beaudoin scored 15 points in the first two quarters, and Legare had 10.
Blais challenged the Red Eddies.
“In the first half, we were a step behind on everything,” she said. “I got on the kids that that’s not how we play. We play fast, we play with tempo, we play physical. We switched our mindsets with that.”
Penny, who was held scoreless in the first half, put the first points on the board in the second, a 3-pointer. Then Facchiano stole the ball and set up Penny for another basket, cutting Lewiston’s lead to 32-23.
Koral Morin made a 3 to give the Blue Devils some breathing room. Later, a trey by Legare put Lewiston ahead 40-28.
But the Red Eddies finished the third quarter on a 9-1 run, and then scored the first six points of the fourth, including a 3-pointer by Penny that gave Edward Little a 42-41 lead.
“Rachel, at the beginning of the season, she was going through some stuff, some sicknesses,” Facchiano said, “and she just wanted to pop off, just do her thing. That’s her, that’s what she does.”
Natalie Beaudoin ended the Eddies run with a 3-pointer that gave Lewiston a 44-42 lead. She hit another one to put the Blue Devils up 47-46 later in the period.
Beaudoin hit four 3s in the game and finished with a game-high 21 points. Legare made three 3s and scored 18 points.
Penny set up Chaput for a basket that got the Eddies within one point, and after Legare made a free throw, Facchiano drove to the hoop for the game-tying basket with 1:28 left in regulation.
Both teams had multiple chances to break the tie, but neither could convert, and the game went to overtime.
The Red Eddies won both regular season meetings with Lewiston — they won 65-37 on Jan. 6 — and next up is a playoff matchup between the Twin Cities rivals next week.
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