WESTBROOK — Alisha Aube and a swarming defense led Westbrook to a 49-39 victory over Sanford in a girls’ basketball game Tuesday night.

Aube led the Blue Blazes (8-6) with 16 points and seven steals.

“It definitely has to do with my team, helping me with those steals. Our intensity on defense definitely helps out,” said Aube.

Aube added six rebounds (five offensive) and a pair of assists.

“(Aube) gets a lot of praise for her shooting and scoring, but she’s really a complete player,” said Westbrook Coach Christopher Aube. “She’s a very cerebral player and I think that gets outshadowed sometimes.”

Westbrook deployed a full-court and half-court trap defense for most of the game. The aggressive defense forced 31 Sanford turnovers.

“We’re athletic, we have some long athletes that can create problems,” said Coach Aube.

“Our coach really wants our intensity up so we can trap them. We really like to keep up the tempo on defense and on offense,” said Alisha Aube.

Sanford (4-11) led 12-11 after one quarter despite eight turnovers and allowing 10 free-throw attempts (Westbrook only made three).

Sanford’s lead dissolved as Westbrook was in the bonus a minute into the second quarter.

“It’s just the same thing that has plagued us all season, it’s the consistency,” said Sanford Coach Tracy Lizotte.

The Blue Blazes took advantage, but not as much as they could have, making 6 of 12 free-throw attempts in the second quarter. However, they forced 12 turnovers – four steals by Aube – and outscored the Spartans 16-7.

“I think continuing to be able to pressure (Sanford) wore (Sanford) down a little bit at the end of that first half,” said Coach Aube.

At the half, Westbrook enjoyed a 27-19 lead, forcing 20 turnovers and taking 22 free throws.

In the third quarter, Sanford guard Summer Camire got hot and made three 3-pointers, scoring 11 of her 21 points.

“(Camire) is very passionate,” said Lizotte. “She’s definitely the leader on the team.”

Camire chipped in with eight rebounds and four assists.

Unfortunately for Sanford, it trailed 39-32 heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, the Spartans were able to get to within six, 41-35, with a little over five minutes left, but it took Westbrook just two minutes to push the lead back up to 12.

Nine players scored for Westbrook, five with at least five points.

“We need to do that (spread out the scoring), it’s something we’ve worked on in practice,” said Coach Aube.

Although happy with the win, Westbrook could have won by a much more comfortable margin if it had made more of its free throws. The Blue Blazes were 15 of 34 from the foul line.

“We try to shoot as many free throws as we can in practice. Sometimes it carries over to games and other times it doesn’t, like tonight,” said Alisha Aube. “As Coach said, there was kind of a lid on the basket today.”

In contrast, Sanford had four free-throw attempts, making two.

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