Redskins keep rolling with 50-28 win

By DAVE DYER

Staff Writer

SACO — For one half of play, it looked as if the girls basketball game between Thornton Academy and Sanford would be a classic defensive battle, with back and forth play and down-to-the-wire scoring.

Then came the second half.

For the final 16 minutes of play, it was all Sanford, who would cruise to a 50-28 win over the Golden Trojans on Tuesday night.

It was the first game back for the Redskins from Christmas break, and they didn’t miss a beat, as the win continues a four-game winning streak. Not only that, but the Redskins are getting the job done with their own version of “The Big Three”, in Lindsey Nolette, Taylor Flood and Shae Riley. Through the first five games of the season, all three have averaged more than 10 points per game. Nolette leads the group with an average of 13 points per game, while both Riley and Flood average 11 points per contest. Rounding out the lineup with Crysta Wilson and Heather LeBlanc, and with a deep bench, and you’ll know why the Redskins are 4-1 so far this season.

“And I’ll keep saying it, that’s what needs to happen,” Sanford head coach Kristy Parent said. “We need to play solid, team-disciplined defense. With Shae, I don’t know how many she came up with, and Lindsey is used to scoring more points, but they played great defense, and they had responsibilities on [Lauren] Titus.”

The action was back-and-forth in the first half between the two schools. Sanford jumped out to a 10-6 lead by the end of the first quarter, thanks to scoring from Wilson and Riley. However, the Golden Trojans (1-5) fought back in the second half thanks to strong defensive play from Lauren Titus and Meghan Agger, who were able to keep Thornton in the game with a 22-18 score at halftime.

The Sanford defense got tighter in the second half, and held the Trojans to just 10 points of offense. Flood would score eight of her 10 points on the night in the third quarter alone, giving Sanford a 34-25 lead at the end of the third, before Riley, who scored a game-high 13 points, and Nolette, who scored eight points, closed out the game for the Redskins in the fourth to seal the victory.

“I think the first quarter, it was close, it was physical,” Parent said. “[Thornton] came out hard, and they play physical, they have a good starting five. I think we were a little bit deeper [depth-wise] than they were. Then they get into some foul trouble, and then we were able to pull away. But in the second quarter, we had Floody on the bench, and Sam Adams and Heather LeBlanc I think were on the bench in the second quarter, so we were doing well, but we weren’t really able to pull away.”

Sanford was paced in rebounds by LeBlanc, who grabbed eight rebounds.

Hannah Ebling led the Trojans with nine points on the night, while Titus and Olivia Shaw chipped in with six points each. Shaw led Thornton with six rebounds.

Sanford hits the road on Friday for a battle with Windham, who are 4-2 on the season. Thornton will host Deering on Friday.

Sign In: