The Westbrook High girls basketball team powered their way to a 60-41 win over Scarborough at Westbrook’s Centennial Gymnasium on Saturday night. The Blazes’ junior center Cynthia Wescott and senior guard Lauren Sawyer helped slow the Red Storm offense.
The match-up between the two squads placed Westbrook coach Mike Murphy in a unique position – he was facing his former team in an important game for both schools.
Wescott maneuvered into the low post and recorded the game’s first basket. And by quarter’s end, Coach Murphy and his Blazes found themselves holding onto a thin 10-7 lead.
The teams traded baskets in the second period before heading to the locker rooms with Westbrook clinging to a 21-19 advantage.
“We stayed on top of things in the beginning of the game despite coming off of a huge stretch of tiring games this past week,” said Wescott. “We came out and knew that we needed to bring it, especially because our two coaches are from Scarborough. We really wanted to show up for them.”
The Blazes opened the second half with their “A” game against a potent Red Storm offense. Scarborough guards Reegan Brackett and Kelsey Griffin led the Red Storm charge combining for 11 points in the third to keep Scarborough within striking distance at 35-30.
Westbrook’s Erin Murphy, Kaylene Godwin (15 points) and Sawyer (13 assists, 5 steals) scored the next 14 of points for the Blazes.
“It was hard to keep up with a lot of our players on the bench being sick,” said Scarborough’s Kelsey Griffin. “That, as well as rebounding really hurt us late in the game when we were trying to keep up.”
Wescott was a force all game long, rejecting four shots and finishing the game with 12 points.
“We’ve been playing on high emotions lately, having won our last three and I guess we were due for a night like this,” said Scarborough coach Jim Seavey. “Their inside game and size took a toll on us over 32 minutes. They did a nice job on rebounding and were everywhere that we weren’t that last quarter.”
Sawyer and Murphy connected three times on outstanding breakaway plays late in the quarter, finishing the game with seven points on successful drives to the basket.
“I just went out there and tried my hardest,” said Murphy, who posted a game-high 17 points. “We really wanted this win as a team and I think we proved that here tonight.”
“It had been awhile since we won a game like this against a quality opponent like Scarborough,” said Westbrook coach Murphy. “This was good for us because we, like Scarborough, needed that win as we look to begin jockeying toward a tournament position.”
The Blazes’ (8-8) next game is against Gorham at home on Friday at 7 p.m.
South Portland hangs on
The South Portland girls basketball team rebounded from a 52-47 loss to Gorham earlier in the week with a 47-43 overtime win at Marshwood on Saturday.
The Riots let a 30-24 first half lead slip away in the second half, but they pulled together to out-score the Hawks 9-5 in the extra session.
Christina Aceto was the game-high scorer with 16 points and Kelsey Flaherty added 11.
Raiders rout Cape
The Cape Elizabeth girls fell at Fryeburg on Saturday by a 53-19 score. The once-beaten Raiders took an 18-5 lead after one period and they coasted to the win.
Cape’s Brennan Balfour, Samantha Culver and Katie Weatherbie all scored four points.
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