BIDDEFORD — The visiting Sanford girls basketball team would take an early lead in the first quarter and maintain it the rest of the way as it held off Biddeford 38-32.

The Tigers would not go down easily, and managed to cut the deficit to just one point with less than two minutes left. However, the Spartans would get stops while Molly Boissonneault and Jillian Lizotte hit key free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.

“I was most proud of the final minute and change because our best defensive player goes down, we step up defensively, then we make key free throws down the stretch, and that’s how you have to be mentally tough to win the game,” said Sanford coach Rossie Kearson after the win.

Fourteen of Biddeford’s points came from the free throw line. Although Kearson was not happy to see his team committing fouls, he was pleased with the Spartans’ tough defense the rest of the way, especially against Biddeford’s Gracie Martin.

“(We) were fouling way too much. But playing their best player in Grace Martin was tough in general. She made a lot of tough shots, and as their best player who averages over 20 a game, she’s going to get her points,” said Kearson. “She hit her shots — a good player like that is going to do whatever they need to do to bring their team back and she did. She hit some tough shots with defenders on her and there’s not much you can do about that.”

“We take the ball to the basket hard. I think we need to do a little bit better of a job in the first half of getting to the line. We need to do a good job of getting it to our people on the inside since they’re keying in on our inside players,” said Biddeford coach Katie Herbine on her team’s foul shots.

The Spartans mounted a 19-13 lead at the half, and would lead 29-23 heading into the fourth quarter. The Tigers would make 7-of-8 free throws to cut the deficit to 32-31 before Sanford took over in the final two minutes.

“We started to run a little bit. We were getting up and down a little bit more. We were working hard to push the ball down the court, we had a couple of things go our way and things started to pick up a little bit,” said Herbine of the fourth-quarter run. “They made shots and we didn’t, that’s really what it came down to.”

Megan O’Connell led Sanford with 11 points while Lizotte chipped in six. Martin led the Tigers with a game-high 20 points on the night.

Sanford improves to 3-9 on the year while Biddeford drops to 3-8. Herbine hopes her team can play with a little more consistency as it enters the home stretch of the regular season.

“I’m not sure that we’ve played a full four quarters yet. We’re getting there, we do some great things but we have a few minutes every game where we check out a little bit and have to bring ourselves back,” said Herbine. “We’ve just got to keep working at it.”

— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at asponseller@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.