WINDHAM — Edward Little was carried by senior scoring, but a sophomore sealed the win for Windham in Friday’s Class AA North girls basketball contest.

The Red Eddies took a double-digit lead in the third quarter, but Windham’s Sarah Talon took over the game on defense to help spur the Eagles to a 38-34 win. 

“She had that look in her eyes,” Windham coach Brody Artes said. “She needed to step up and she knew that. She needed to step up and she is an ultra-competitor. She definitely had a good defensive effort on the defensive end, that helped us.”

Talon was everywhere on the defensive end, tallying five blocks in the second half. The sophomore said it was more simple than reading the shooters’ eyes or knowing their tendencies — she was just focused on finding a way to win. 

“I just knew what had to be done,” Talon, who also scored 11 points, said. “I just wanted that game. We were down in the first half and the comeback was much-needed. It started on defense to get points on offense. Just having the mindset like, ‘I need to get this. It needs to happen now.’

“I knew that I could do those things, so I just went to work.”

The Eddies (3-11) took a 20-14 lead into halftime after senior Hannah Chaput hit a 3-pointer right before the buzzer. 

Edward Little didn’t lose its stride on offense after intermission. Chantel Ouellette hit a 3-pointer from the left corner, followed by a Chaput layup in transition. Ouellette then drained a floater at the hoop to put the Eddies up 27-15 with 6:21 left in the third. 

Ouellette finished with 20 points, and Chaput added 10.

While Ouellette led all scorers, it was her defense that most impressed Red Eddies coach Chris Cifelli. 

“We were talking about offensively she stepped up, but it was her defense that made the difference,” Cifelli said. “She made one of the best players in the state work for every touch, never mind just a shot. I was very happy with how she frustrated Talon and slowed her repertoire of moves to get going.”

Windham (10-4) called a timeout to stop the bleeding, but Edward Little quickly made it a 14-point lead. The speech in the huddle was enough to get the Eagles going again, however.

“He said pretty much again what he said in the locker room,” Talon said of Artes’ message. “We needed effort, and effort is something I love, I love helping our team. And I knew we needed it a lot and we couldn’t have our heads down because that’s when it mattered the most. We came back and it was awesome.”

Windham trailed by nine after three quarters. Then Talon took over.

Ouellette hit a layup 44 seconds into the fourth, which ended up being the Red Eddies’ final points of the game. 

Talon blocked three shots in the fourth and notched a steal and even forced a five-second violation guarding an Edward Little ball-handler. 

On offense, Carly Morey and Hannah Talon each scored four points in the fourth to aid the comeback. Hannah Talon hit a free throw with 2:26 left to put the Eagles up 35-34. A minute later Destiny Potter scored on a layup to ice the win.

“I thought Destiny did a real good job on the boards, and I thought we did a good job of just not quitting,” Artes said. “We have a young team, and it’s easy to fold in a situation in the second half when you’re down 14. They didn’t quit and that is a good win.”

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