The Lisbon High School girls basketball team has a comeback streak of its own in the early stages of the Mountain Valley Conference campaign after picking up a 34-32 victory over rival Wiscasset on Monday.
The Greyhounds, who battled back to defeat St. Dom’s on Friday after trailing by seven points at the half, were behind the Wolverines 27-22 after a Heidi Pinkham 3- pointer with 1:37 remaining in the third quarter, and by four points, 27- 23, after 24 minutes.
However, Lisbon did its best interpretation of Tebow’s fourth-quarter magic, scoring the first six points of the frame for a 29-27 lead. Even after Wiscasset (0-4) battled back to take a 32-31 edge on Carolyn Footer’s third longdistance trey with 3: 11 remaining, the Greyhounds were not to be denied as a Denise Thomas putback of a miss put Lisbon ahead for good moments later.
“In our last game against St. Dom’s we played a lot better in the second half, and tonight we again were stronger after halftime,” said Lisbon coach Julie Wescott, whose team improved to 2-2 and hosts Boothbay on Wednesday. “We are still trying to put an entire game together, but I was pleased to see our players step up, especially Denise Thomas, who rebounded the ball very well and finished.”
For Wiscasset, this loss was tough, considering Patrick Quinn’s Wolverines led most of the way after consecutive 3- pointers by Footer and Pinkham late in the first quarter ( a 9- 4 Wiscasset advantage).
“These girls are so coachable, on-time for every practice and they work hard, so they are a little bit frustrated right now,” said Quinn, whose squad will look to get into the win column against a tough Spruce Mountain (Jay/Livermore Falls co-op) on Wednesday. “ I thought Heidi Pinkham did a great job defensively on their big shooter Alexa Harmon. She really only scored when we switched to zone.”
Going long
Trailing 4-3 late in the first quarter, Wiscasset rattled off six quick points, including Pinkham’s buzzer-beating 3- pointer.
The lead stretched to a game-high seven points, 13-6, on a Kayla Connors putback, forcing a Lisbon timeout.
Wescott’s talk worked as the ’Hounds reeled off eight straight points, five from Harmon and three from Campbell for a short-lived 14-13 lead. Briana Goud scored near the end of the half to give the Wolverines a 15-14 lead at the break.
The Wolverines stretched their lead to 21-16 with a 6-2 run to begin the third quarter, with Connors scoring four more points, and treys by Footer and Pinkham made it a 27-22 contest.
Lisbon showed lots of grit the rest of the way, ripping at the ball when Wiscasset set up in the offensive end. The toughness worked as Lisbon took the lead on a Sarah Giraldo jumper, with Harmon hitting a runner a short time later for a 31-27 Lisbon edge.
Wiscasset battled right back as Connors went hard to the basket to score, and Footer drained a 3-pointer for a 32- 31 lead.
Thomas, who matched Campbell with a team-high 10 points and 10 caroms, grabbed her own rebound on Lisbon’s ensuing possession and put the ball into the cylinder for a 33-32 lead. Pinkham had a shot rim out, with Thomas grabbing the board and getting fouled. She missed both free throws, but grabbed the rebound to close out the Lisbon win.
“ We had good ball movement in the second half and the defense was really good,” said Thomas, who moved to Lisbon from Liberia three years ago. “We started slow, but we have some confidence in the second half and especially the fourth quarter.”
“Combined with Jess, those two are solid inside,” said Wescott.
Both teams began fouling, with neither squad finding the touch at the charity stripe as the teams were both three of 13.
“We had shot around 60 percent coming into this game, but tonight we didn’t shoot well at the line,” said Quinn, whose offensive leaders were Connors and Footer with nine points each, followed by six each from Pinkham and Goud (all in the first half).
Wiscasset was 12 of 37 (32 percent) and outrebounded the Greyhounds (26-24), with Connors pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds. Goud had six caroms, while Footer dished out three assists and Pinkham picked up three steals.
Harmon chipped in nine points for Lisbon, while Bailey Madore had three steals and three assists. The Greyhounds forced 27 turnovers.
Lisbon 34,
Wiscasset 32
At Wiscasset High School
Lisbon — 4 10 9 11 — 34
Wiscasset — 9 6 12 5 — 32
Lisbon — Denise Thomas 5-0-10,
Bailey Madore 1-1-3, Briana Moore 0-
0-0, Alexa Harmon 4-0-9, Jess Campbell 4-2-10, Haley Eck 0-0-0, Sarah
Giraldo 1-0-2, Jen Smith 0-0-0. Totals
— 15-3-34.
Wiscasset — Kasey Cromwell 1-0-2,
Kayla Connors 4-1-9, Heidi Pinkham
2-0-6, Briana Goud 2-2-6, Carolyn
Footer 3-0-9, Miranda McIntire 0-0-0,
Alecia Faulkingham 0-0-0. Totals —
12-3-32.
3- pointers — ( L) Harmon; ( W)
Pinkham 2, Footer 3.
Records — Lisbon 2-2, Wiscasset 0-
4.
Next — The Greyhounds host Boothbay on Wednesday, while the Wolverines visit Spruce Mountain on
Wednesday.
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