WALES

There was little the Wiscasset High School girls basketball team was able to do to break the press of Oak Hill on Monday.

The undefeated Raiders unleashed an unrelenting full-court press on the Wolverines, who didn’t recover in a 50-30 Mountain Valley Conference loss.

How good was Oak Hill’s press defense? Of 17 Wiscasset possessions spanning the first and second quarters, the Raiders forced 16 turnovers in turning a 9-5 deficit into a 26-9 lead. Twice the Wolverines were whistled for 10-second back-court violations, two more times for failing to send the ball into play in the allotted five seconds, and several more miscues where Wiscasset, which turned the ball over 38 times in all, just had trouble getting past mid-court.

“Most of these girls had never played here before and it is a tough place to play, and Oak Hill is the class of the Mountain Valley Conference this year,” said Wiscasset coach Patrick Quinn. “The first six, seven possessions we handled their press well, but they moved it up the floor and we had trouble adjusting to that.”

The Raiders kept things going after their 21-0 run, closing the first half with a quick 8-0 spurt for a 34-12 halftime lead. Oak Hill led 47-16 when Raiders coach Charlie Castonguay cleared his bench.

“Full-court pressure is vital for us, and it disrupted their quarter-court offense right from the get-go,” said Castonguay.

Good start

Several things went right early for Wiscasset (3-5), which turned a 5-0 deficit into a 9-5 lead on the strength of five points from Tylan Onorato and four from Colleen Hendricks.

“Coming in, we thought that we could win the game and started out strong offensively and defensively,” said Hendricks, who had a solid contest with 10 points.

After a timeout, Oak Hill turned up the defensive pressure. The Raiders closed the opening quarter on an 11-0 run for a 16-9 edge through eight minutes.

“Oak Hill just pressured us,” said Hendricks. “They didn’t give us a lot of space and when they got the ball they made their passes and their shots. I had a turnover. I think we all did. We just have to learn to turn it up when the pressure comes.”

“It took us a few minutes to get that intensity, and I think a couple of the subs who came in, like Kayla Veilleux (four points, seven rebounds), did a real nice job,” said Castonguay. “We strive for those kind of situations, forcing then to make some poor decisions rather than trying to steal the ball. It is better just to put the pressure on and make them make the mistake.”

The brief break did little to slow the Raiders, who opened the second quarter with 10 straight points. Brianna Mulherin scored eight of her 10 points in the first half, with Jamie Prue adding seven, Sadie Goulet six and Grace Sabine five.

A basket by Onorato, who had seven points, ended the long Oak Hill run, and a free throw by Gabby Chapman cut the deficit to 26-12 before Veilleux, Mulherin, Vanessa Wright and Danielle Samson each put up two points in a 45-second span to close the half.

Samson, who matched Mulherin with 10 points, scored six more during a 13- 4 start to the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

Still, Quinn’s squad refused to quit. All 10 Wolverines played, with Miranda McIntire scoring four points, and Alecia Faulkingham and Kayla Gordon put up three each in the second half.

“I thought everyone stayed positive,” said Quinn, whose Wolverines return home for three key games, starting with Monmouth on Friday (7 p.m.). Dirigo visits on Jan. 5, followed by Carrabec on Jan. 8. “There were plenty of opportunities for them to hang their heads and give up. But, they know it is a long season. We need to win four or five more games to get to Augusta, and that is still the goal. We have to stay positive to work toward that goal.”

Prue finished with nine points and Sabine had eight for Oak Hill. Sabine had a team-high five steals, with Goulet and Prue adding four each. Samson dished out five assists.

McIntire had a game-high nine rebounds for Wiscasset, with Onorato adding five boards and two blocked shots, and Gordon three steals.

Wiscasset was 9-for-43 (20 percent) from the floor and 11-of-19 from the foul line, while the Raiders, after making 16-of-33 shots in the first half (48 percent), was 23-for- 63 from the floor (36 percent) overall and 4-of-8 from the free-throw line.

Oak Hill 50,
Wiscasset 30

At Oak Hill High School
Wiscasset — 9 3 12 6 — 30
Oak Hill — 16 18 13 3 — 50
Wiscasset — Tylan Onorato 2-2-7,
Miranda McIntire 1-2-4, Alecia Faulkingham 1-1-3, Kayla Gordon 1-1-3,
Colleen Hendricks 4-2-10, Gabby
Chapman 0-2-2, Hanna Foye 0-0-0,
Grace Webber 0-1-1, Hannah Maloy
0-0-0, Lindsay Gordon 0-0-0. Totals
— 9-11-30.
Oak Hill — Sadie Goulet 3-0-6,
Jamie Prue 4-1-9, Brianna Mulherin
5-0-10, Danielle Samson 5-0-10,
Grace Sabine 3-2-8, Meagan Crosby
0-1-1, Kayla Veilleux 2-0-4, Vanessa
Wright 1-0-2, Iris Abbott 0-0-0,
Brooke Depuy 0-0-0, Emma Hlister 0-
0-0, Madison Bennett 0-0-0, Charlotte Waterman 0-0-0. Totals — 23-4-
50.
3-point field goal — (W) Onorato.
Records — Oak Hill 6-0, Wiscasset
3-5.
Up next for the Wolverines — Friday
at home against Monmouth, 7 p.m.