WINDHAM — Sophie Glidden doesn’t expect her Scarborough High girls’ basketball teammates to miss free throws.

“But when they do miss, I expect to get the rebound,” Glidden said. “I always try my hardest.”

Glidden’s most important rebound Tuesday night came when she swooped across the lane to grab an errant free throw by Brooke Malone with 47 seconds to play. Glidden took one dribble and powered up for Scarborough’s final basket in its 45-40 Class AA road win.

Glidden and Malone both scored nine points to lead eight scorers for Scarborough, now 2-1 in AA South. Most of the Red Storm’s points came from within eight feet of the basket, even though no Scarborough player is taller than 5-foot-9.

“We’re just really aggressive and we try really hard in practice and it works out in the games,” Glidden said.

Windham (3-1) suffered its first loss despite opening the game with a 12-3 advantage that featured some good fast-break basketball.

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“We had the start we wanted but Scarborough’s pretty resilient,” Windham Coach Brody Artes said. “They hit some shots.”

Scarborough closed the first quarter with five points in the final 12 seconds on a long two-pointer by Jill Ware, a quick steal and a 3-pointer by Natalie Taylor to cut Windham’s lead to 12-10.

Ware and Taylor were part of Scarborough’s reserve quintet that entered the game as a unit midway through each of the first three quarters.

“Our second five went in there and made it a two-point game at the end of the quarter,” Scarborough Coach Mike Giordano said. “That was our second group so that was really big for us.”

Scarborough starters continued the run. Jamie Sargent made a contested 3-pointer to start the quarter. Scarborough’s run peaked at 16 straight points for a 19-12 lead and it was 27-20 at the half with Glidden, Josie Couture and Jordyn Cowan each getting two inside hoops in the quarter.

Windham got as close as three just once the rest of the way. Mya Manette (12 points) turned one of her many steals into a fast-break layup to trim the lead to 35-32 to open the fourth quarter.

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Scarborough responded by pounding the ball inside again. A 3-point play in transition by Glidden upped the lead to 42-32.

Glidden was also a factor in slowing Windham’s offense. She had the primary responsibility for containing returning first-team SMAA forward/guard Sadie Nelson (11 points).

“My job was basically to limit Sadie’s points and her rebounds because she’s very good on the offensive boards,” Glidden said.

Nelson’s final basket came on a tough rebound when she tracked down her own missed 3-pointer and converted through contact with 25.9 seconds left to cut Scarborough’s lead to 45-40.

Scarborough missed six straight free throws after Nelson’s basket (and 9 of 10 over the final 1:24).

“I told the girls, ‘You lucked out. You’re not going to win games missing free throws like that very often,’ ” Giordano said. “But if you’re able to learn a lesson and not lose game, that’s a good thing.”


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