There are games on schedules that athletes circle as being “big ones.”

Take Tuesday’s East-West Conference girls high school basketball showdown between Rangeley and Richmond. Once the Lakers closed out a 56-54 overtime home victory on Dec. 14, the Bobcats had this one circled, wanting to avenge the setback.

Consider it done after Richmond rolled to a big first-half lead en route to a dominating 50-37 victory.

The Bobcats (9-2) are first in the Western Maine Class D Heal Point Standings, while this was the No. 2 Lakers’ first loss (7-1).

“We beat them to the ball when we needed to and did a nice job kicking it back to one another, and just didn’t let up,” said Richmond coach Molly Bishop, whose squad will visit Seacoast Christian on Friday. “Rangeley is strong and rugged. But, we held our own. They played the way that I wanted them to. They were up for this game, and when they got out on the floor they were focused.”

“We knew coming into this game that it was a big game, and I think Rangeley thought they would come in here and walk all over us,” said Richmond forward Jamie Plummer, who outscored the Lakers herself in the first half (15-13) on the way to a game-high 25 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots. “That wasn’t going to happen in our house. This is a big win. We don’t lose often, so to beat our rivals is pretty awesome.”

Rangeley coach Heidi Deery praised Richmond.

“Richmond played. They outhustled us, outexecuted us,” said Deery. “They are a great team with a great coach. You can’t come out when someone is trying to hurry you, then go faster than you want to. We played reactive basketball in that first half.”

All Bobcats

Richmond came out quickly, scoring the game’s first five points, including a 3-pointer from Plummer. The lead was 9- 1 after an Alyssa Pearson onehanded runner in the lane, and the Bobcats held a 15-7 lead after eight minutes.

The Bobcats kept clicking in the second quarter, going on a 13-2 run for a 28-9 lead. Guards Brianna Snedeker, Noell Acord and Payton Johnson caused havoc in the Rangeley backcourt as the Lakers committed 20 first-half turnovers and shot just 21 percent (four of 19) from the floor.

Richmond, which led 31-13 at the break, was 14-of-36 from the field in the opening half (38 percent), with Plummer, Pearson (six points) and Acord (six) accounting for 27 points.

“We came out ready to go today and had something to prove,” said Acord, who finished with six points and three steals. “This was the best we have played all year. We beat them to about every ball.”

The intermission did Rangeley some good as the visitors trimmed the deficit to 12 points on several occasions.

The Lakers never got closer. Rangeley trailed 42-30 with 4:04 remaining, but Pearson pulled down an offensive board and scored, while Plummer added eight fourth-quarter points to close out the 50-37 victory.

“All I wanted was to get it under 10 and see what would happen down the stretch,” said Leery. “But, you have to take your hat off to Jamie Plummer. Every time we got it close, she got a rebound or we turned the ball over.”

Richmond was 20-of-64 from the floor (31 percent) and made eight of 14 free throws. Pearson finished with 10 points, while Snedeker had five steals and four assists, and Johnson three steals.

Blayke Morin led Rangeley with 13 points and seven rebounds, with Tori Letarte adding 11 points and four steals. The Lakers shot 28 percent (12 of 42) from the floor and 13 of 26 at the foul line. Rangeley committed 32 turnovers.

Richmond 50, Rangeley 37

At Richmond
Rangeley — 7 6 11 13 — 37
Richmond — 15 16 7 12 — 50
Rangeley — Blayke Morin 4-5-13, Seve
Deery-Deraps 2-0-4, Tori Letarte 3-5-11,
Abby Abbott 0-0-0, Jenney Abbott 1-3-5,
Taylor Esty 2-0-4, Maddison Egan 0-0-0,
Emina Gunic 0-0-0, Shelby Elmes 0-0-0.
Totals — 12-13-37.
Richmond — Brianna Snedeker 2-1-5,
Noell Acord 3-0-6, Jamie Plummer 9-5-
25, Payton Johnson 1-2-4, Ciarra Lancaster 0-0-0, Haley Murphy 0-0-0, Alyssa
Pearson 5-0-10, Emily Leavitt 0-0-0,
Kelsea Anair 0-0-0. Totals — 20-8-50.
3-pointers — (Rich) Plummer 2.
Records — Richmond 9-2, Rangeley 7-1.
Next for the Bobcats — Friday at Seacoast Christian, 5 p.m.

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