WINDHAM – Windham senior point guard Meghan Gribbin scored 24 points and added five assists in as she helped her squad demolish the Noble Knights 73-20 on Dec. 13. Fellow Eagle senior Bebe Butts added 14 with her excellent 3-point shooting.
One of sports all-time great cliche?s is the “statement game” and that is exactly what Tuesday night’s home opener for the Windham Eagles girls basketball team was. At least that was the feeling in the Windham High School gym when the buzzer sounded announcing the end of the first quarter. The scoreboard read 29-1.
Gribbin entered the game determined to put on a show for the home crowd as she netted nine points in the first quarter while playing stifling defense at the other end.
While Gribbin was the focal point of the Eagle attack with her explosive driving ability and excellent vision, Tuesday night was a total team effort. The Eagles received scoring contributions from 10 different players, most notably Butts.
As Noble defenders started to key in on Gribbin, that left the perimeter open for Butts to put on a shooting clinic from behind the arc.
Even when there was a hand in her face, Butts seemed unfazed as she knocked down three first-half 3-pointers allowing the Eagles to pull away early on.
Eagle coach Jessie Cummings had a simple assessment about the game. “I think some nights you’re on and some nights you’re off,” she said. Unfortunately for the Knights, Tuesday night was one of those on nights for the Eagles.
Butts, who had four 3s in the game, also saw three of her teammates contribute with the long ball as the Eagles combined for 24 points from beyond the arc, which was good for nearly a third of the team’s total production.
Cummings called her team’s stellar shooting a trickle effect. “Sometimes when the first one or two shots go in, the girls gain confidence,” she said.
While it can be said that it is easier to pour in buckets when your team jumps out to a huge lead, the fact that the Eagles had their most dominating performance in the first quarter illustrates how prepared the team was for Tuesday’s game.
Cummings alluded to her team’s past struggles with playing down to their competition. As of right now that doesn’t look like it will be a problem for the Eagles going forward.
“I think what we take from it is that we are capable of playing our game regardless of the competition,” said Cummings.
While it would have been easy for the Eagles to abandon their defensive intensity as they poured in shots and attacked the basket with ease, the Eagles did no such thing as they kept up their suffocating full-court pressure for the majority of the first half, causing numerous turnovers and easy fast break opportunities at the other end as the Knights struggled to remain focused as the score got more and more out of hand.
The Eagles’ confident shooting and defensive pressure allowed them to go into the halftime break with a 49-5 lead
Despite amassing a 44-point lead heading into the third, Cummings stressed to her team the importance of not becoming complacent. Rather than focusing on running up the score the Eagles remained committed to working on specific aspects of their game.
“It was an opportunity for the girls to fine tune some aspects of their game that we wouldn’t normally be able to see in a closer game,” said Cummings.
Although the Eagles pulled back on their full-court press in the second half, they remained committed to focusing on their help-side defense and executing their offensive sets. Even as Cummings turned to her reserves, the team’s focus remained.
Despite slowing down on the offensive end, the Eagles still only allowed 15 second half points to the Knights, eight of which came on free throws.
Cummings dismissed the notion that a 53-point victory would lead to overconfidence. “Every game we want to come out,” she said. “Every game is a new team and a new challenge. We take one game at a time and just consistently play our game. They’ll be ready Friday to play Biddeford and we’ll go from there.”
To the Knights’ credit, they appeared to pick up their intensity in the fourth quarter as they drove to the hoop in order to generate free throw chances. This was perhaps the only downside for the Eagles, as they committed 18 fouls over the course of the game.
Perhaps the most intimidating factor for teams looking to challenge Windham this season is that Cummings believes that her team still hasn’t showed their full potential. “I said to the girls that this is the first year our offense has actually been there and it’s our defense that needs a little fine tuning,” she said.
Windham senior point guard Meghan Gribbin led a dominating EagleSend questions/comments to the editors.
