GORHAM — Rebounding and running.

The Gorham High girls’ basketball team dominated the boards and that led to plenty of running as the Rams (5-1) blitzed Scarborough 64-37 in Tuesday’s Western Class A matinee.

“Rebounding has always been a key for us because we’re a pretty small team,” said Gorham senior co-captain Abby Hamilton. “That’s always one of our objectives. We have great guards and we can push it (after a rebound) and we’re really good at those transition points so that’s something we really work on.”

Hamilton’s seven boards helped Gorham to a 36-16 rebounding advantage.

“Rebounding really has to be our main focus each and every game and if we do that we’re going to be in good shape for most games,” said Gorham Coach Laughn Berthiaume. “It allows us to get out in transition and keeps us from getting into foul trouble.”

Emily Esposito led the Rams with 17 points and eight rebounds in an all-around effort as Gorham combined good ball movement in the open court and its half-court motion offense.

“At the beginning of the season it was just one pass and a shot, one pass and a 3-pointer,” Esposito said. “We just calmed down and we found our rhythm and we definitely had a good game.”

Scarborough entered the game with a 4-1 record, but the four wins came against winless teams.

The Red Storm started well with Ashley Briggs and Sophie Glidden knocking down midrange jumpers and 5-foot-7 forward Brooke Malone creating and converting scoring opportunities on the block.

Foul problems hurt Scarborough. Briggs and Malone picked up their third fouls in the second quarter and neither scored in the second half in limited playing time.

The bigger issue was slowing down Gorham’s relentless and balanced attack (seven players scored at least five points).

“They overwhelmed us today,” said Scarborough Coach Mike Giordano. “It was one of those games where you were trying to measure your team. We played a bunch of teams we should have beaten and then we were hoping to compete with one of the better teams in our league and we just didn’t show up today.”

Hamilton scored eight points in Gorham’s dominating 26-8 second-quarter spree. Coming off a major knee injury late last season, Hamilton was able to score in transition Tuesday. Once she dribbled nearly the length of the court and finished at the rim. Another time she took an Esposito pass and stopped and popped a 10-footer.

Hamilton then capped the quarter with a transition 3-pointer for a 39-19 halftime lead.

“The knee’s feeling a lot better,” Hamilton said. “It’s good to be back out here with my team so I’m lovin’ it.”

Esposito had six points in the quarter, twice showing her ability to outjump opponents for a tough catch in traffic and then finish.

“She’s taken more responsibility for every part of her game,” Berthiaume said.

An all-SMAA player as a freshman, Esposito was being watched by a Marist University representative who had a brief conversation with Berthiaume after the game.

“She’s being recruited by (Marist) and a number of other schools,” Berthiaume said.

Gorham center Molly Merrifield had four of her eight points on a pair of offensive rebound putbacks.

“Molly gave us great minutes today. Her role is to come off the bench and defend and rebound and she did that,” Berthiaume said.

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