CUMBERLAND — Alison Furness got the Wells offense going early, then the Warriors’ defense took over, clamping down in the second and third quarters of a 43-40 victory over host Greely in a Western Maine Conference girls basketball clash Tuesday.
Ashley Storey, the Rangers’ 6-foot-4 junior forward, scored the first four points of the game, using her distinct height advantage to get a pair of easy layups over smaller Wells defenders.
But the Warriors (15-2) then went on a 6-0 run to take their first lead as the opening quarter turned into a shootout. Furness scored nine points in the quarter, while teammate Stephanie Woods added seven.
Storey was held to just a 3-pointer for the rest of the quarter, but Blais Tardiff pitched in with eight points.
“I thought our girls inside did a good job (on Storey),” said Wells head coach Don Abbott. “You don’t stop her, you just try and hope to limit her touches, and make her catch it in places that maybe she’s not as effective.”
Furness was hot from the start offensively for Wells, even if she didn’t feel that way.
“Truth be told, she was sick as a dog tonight. And she gutted it out, and she willed through,” said Abbott. “For her to get off quick, I think not feeling well, got her going and got her energy flowing a little bit.
“It was huge for the whole team. It was kind of like, ”˜All right, our guy’s all right.’”
“I just kind of tried to ignore it, mostly,” said Furness. “I’ve felt this way for three days.”
A game that featured two of the lower scoring teams in the WMC saw an 18-17 Wells lead eight minutes in.
“My assistant said to me, ”˜Listen, they’re not going to keep shooting like that, and neither are we. So we need to buckle down defensively, and just do the things that we do,’” said Abbott. “I think that was an atypical quarter for both our standpoints.”
The second quarter, however, was a different story. The Rangers (13-4) didn’t score until there was 4:15 left in the frame, on a bucket by Molly Chapin, and then didn’t score again before the half.
The Warriors weren’t much better, but they did get two more baskets by Furness and another by Nicole Moody, to increase their lead to 24-19 at half.
Wells continued to control the pace of the game as the third quarter began, as the Warriors held the ball for the first 61 seconds of the half, but weren’t able to get a shot off.
Wells couldn’t miss on the other end of the floor however, keeping the Rangers scoreless for the first four minutes of the quarter while starting on a 6-0 run. A layup by Furness ”“ after Jordan Agger hit back-to-back jumpers ”“ pushed the Wells lead to 30-19 midway through the third.
Chapin hit a 3-pointer for Greely with 3:27 left in the quarter for the Rangers’ first points, but Wells held them to just one other basket the rest of the quarter.
“That was a really good defensive half for us,” said Furness, alluding to the second and third quarters. “We were rotating well, we were talking well. It just really worked out well for us.”
A backdoor layup by Furness with 10 seconds left made it 34-25 Wells heading into the fourth.
The tides turned in the fourth, however, as the Wells offense went cold while trying to ice the game away. A layup by Sophie Lamb was the lone field goal for the Warriors in the final frame.
“I think we got a little tentative,” said Abbott. “I thought we got a little tight ”¦ and we made some poor decisions.”
Storey ”“ who scored a team-high 15 points for Greely ”“ broke out of her funk in the fourth, as she hadn’t scored since the first quarter. She hit a 3-pointer midway through the quarter, and Chapin and Tardiff followed with treys of their own.
Tardiff’s 3 with 1:27 left cut the deficit to 38-34, the closest it had been since late in the second quarter.
Moody made a home at the free throw line in the fourth, and was able to keep it a two-possession game by making six of 10 shots from the stripe.
The lead stood at 43-36 with 12.9 seconds left when Storey hit a jumper near the free throw line. She was then fouled by Lamb ”“ her fifth foul ”“ after the make, allowing Storey to step to the stripe for a 1-and-1. Storey missed the front end, but the Rangers recovered the rebound, and Storey made a layup with less than five seconds left.
Greely’s last chance was to steal the inbounds or foul, but they could do neither, as Moody was able to tightrope with the ball up the left sideline to run out the clock.
“It feels like a big win,” said Furness, who finished with a game-high 20 points. “It was just really a big win for us.”
The game had the feel of what both teams could experience in two weeks, when the Western Class B playoffs begin.
“(Greely head coach Joel) Rogers and I talked before the game that ”¦ both our teams are going to be better off in the tournament for whatever happened here tonight,” said Abbott. “To have to go toe-to-toe, possession-for-possession, two quality teams, that builds your ability to play in a game like this.”
— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
