Lisbon’s Kiley Merritt dribbles towards the basket as Wiscasset’s Zoe Waltz defends during the first half of Friday’s MVC girls high school basketball game. Lisbon won the game, 54-24. (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
LISBON — Lisbon raced out to an 16-8 lead after one quarter while receiving scoring from seven different players on the evening en route to a 54-24 victory over Wiscasset in Mountain Valley Conference girls high school basketball action on Friday.
Three Greyhounds reached double digit points — Charlee Cox (14), Giana Russo (12) and Kiley Merritt (12) — as they paced Lisbon to its fourth win of the season against one defeat. Russo dished out nine assists while Cox hauled in seven rebounds.
The Wolverines were led by Brianna Colson-Orr’s six points, followed by Kateleen Trask’s five. Latisha Wright and Emily Richardson each chipped in four points as Wiscasset fell to 0-4.
Lisbon’s Maria Levesque (23) defends against Wiscasset’s Brianna Colson-Orr during the first half of Friday’s MVC girls high school basketball game. (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
“We had a huge win last night (a 35-28 victory over Madison on Thursday), and we could have come out tonight not focused,” Lisbon coach Doug Sautter said. “And to see so many different scorers, I’ve been so impressed with the unselfishness of the team. There is no one on the team that is selfish, they don’t care who scores.”
The hosts tallied the first 11 points of the game behind the sleek passing of Russo withCox crashing the boards on both ends of the floor. Russo had six points and four assists in the opening quarter to pace Lisbon.
Wiscasset entered the scoring column midway through the frame when Colson-Orr drained a trey. Trask also hit a shot from behind the arc in the first 12 minutes, but still trailed the Greyhounds, 16-8. Cox and Russo had 14 of Lisbon’s 16 points.
The Lisbon defense allowed just two points in the second quarter — a pair of Madison Carrier free throws — and extended its lead to 36-10 at the break. Siara Martin had three steals in the frame, while Cox and Destiny Deschaines pounded the boards underneath, hauling in three rebounds apiece.
“I told them at halftime that I didn’t care about the offense, our defense was playing outstanding,” Sautter said. “Our effort on defense is something that we can control. I told them I was so pleased with their effort and tenacity. It could have been easy to come in and look past them.”
Cox registered 14 first-half points, including a layup at the the halftime buzzer, while Russo added eight.
The third quarter saw several strong individual performances on the floor for Lisbon with Russo continuing her running of the offense, feeding Merritt on three occasions as the latter had eight third-quarter points.
“It’s so good to have her back, I missed her a lot,” Merritt said about Russo after the senior guard missed all of last season with a knee injury.
“We have plays that get it inside underneath because our bigs are pretty good and even our smalls are good at posting up and getting the ball down there and getting it off the backboard,” Russo said.
Lisbon finished the quarter with 12 points, holding a 48-15 lead.
Lisbon’s Giana Russo makes a pass in front of Wiscasset’s Zoe Waltz during Friday’s MVC girls high school basketball game in Lisbon. The Greyhounds won, 54-24. (Eric Maxim / The Times Record)
“Our number one goal is to get a quality shot. If it goes in, great, if we miss a quality shot, oh well, it was a good one,” added Sautter.
Wiscasset tallied nine points in the fourth quarter as the Wolverines continued to work.
“We’re working hard, it’s a process,” Wiscasset coach Tom Philbrick said. “We’ve come a long way and we look like a basketball team at times, but then we revert back. That happens. They’re good kids and work extremely hard.”
Wiscasset finished 3-for-11 from behind the arc, getting treys from Colson-Orr, Trask and Zoe Waltz.
“We’ll shoot it,” Philbrick said about shooting threes. “We shoot them well in practice, but getting our practice game on the floor has been a challenge.”
Lisbon moves on to play Spruce Mountain on the road on Dec. 27 and will look to continue its strong play, while continuing to play as a cohesive unit.
“We’re working really hard in practice and working well together. We have good team chemistry and don’t over-think things,” added Russo.
Wiscasset hosts Dirigo on Dec. 27 at 6:30 p.m.
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