RICHMOND — Win or lose, the Richmond girls’ basketball team needed a test Tuesday night.
The two-time defending Western Class D champs got one from Old Orchard Beach, one of the top teams in Western Class C.
The Seagulls pulled away in the fourth quarter following back-to-back 3-pointers from Daphne Allen and Christina Colman for a 52-46 victory.
The win solidifies third place in Western Class C for the Seagulls (13-4); Richmond (13-3) will likely remain in second in Western Class D.
Sophomore Abby Dubois led Old Orchard with 18 points.
Senior Jamie Plummer scored 18 for the Bobcats.
The Seagulls led 43-39 with just over three minutes left when Allen hit a 3 from the left side and Colman (11 points) followed with another one from the left corner to make it 49-39. The Bobcats got no closer than six points.
“(We’ve shown) great improvement,” Colman said. “We’re all moving the ball and our sophomores have stepped up.”
Free-throw shooting and turnovers hurt Richmond’s chances. The Bobcats shot 9 for 21 from the line and committed 25 turnovers, not all from OOB’s pressure.
“We forced the ball into situations where we shouldn’t have,” said Richmond Coach Molly Bishop.
The Seagulls were 22 for 41 from the foul line, but had many more chances, getting into the 1-and-1 bonus early in both halves. They lost point guard Haley Plante in the first minute of play when she turned an ankle.
“We were down our point guard from a torn ACL in the beginning of the year, then Haley went down,” OOB Coach Dean Plante said. “That’s two good point guards. What we got was kids to step up with the ball in their hands. Abby Dubois, Christina and Anna Foss in particular did a nice job.”
The Seagulls led 20-12 following three straight baskets from Dubois in the second quarter, but the Bobcats narrowed the gap to 20-19 by the half as Alyssa Pearson scored seven of her 10 points in a three-minute span.
The Bobcats gained their final lead of the game, 28-27, when Plummer converted a rebound midway through the third.
Plummer finished with 16 rebounds but Colman guarded her most of the night and held her to seven points below her average despite giving away 4 inches to the 6-foot center.
“You’ve just got to front her in the post and get some help behind you,” Colman said.
Kennebec Journal Staff Writer Gary Hawkins can be contacted at 621-5638 or at: ghawkins@centralmaine.com
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