SCARBOROUGH — In most preseason girls’ basketball polls, Scarborough High was noted as a contender that was a level below the top-tier teams in Class AA South.
It might be time to rethink those polls.
Junior forward Sophie Glidden scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter to lift Scarborough to a 46-40 victory over South Portland on Tuesday night. The Red Storm scored the first six points of the final quarter to break a tie and never looked back to remain unbeaten.
“It’s amazing,” said senior guard Brooke Malone, who hit a huge 3-pointer in the fourth for the Red Storm. “Nobody thinks that we can go as far as we think we can. We know what we can do. And it feels so good to show what we’re capable of doing.”
The victory lifted Scarborough to 5-0 while South Portland – considered one of the top two teams in the region – dipped to 4-2.
“This was a good one,” said Red Storm Coach Mike Giordano. “We’ve had some success early, but we really hadn’t against a top-tier team. This was our first test. And our kids competed.”
Scarborough’s sagging/helping man-to-man defense shut down the Riots for most of the game, giving up an occasional run but otherwise closing down the inside.
“Going in we knew defense would win this game,” said Glidden. “It was a great team effort on defense.”
Still, it was tied at 26 entering the fourth quarter after South Portland got a fast-break basket from Maggie Whitmore and a foul shot by Meghan Graff, who led South Portland with 16 points, to end the third.
It was then that the Red Storm quickly took control.
Glidden hit a floater from the foul line for a 28-26 lead. After the Riots missed two shots, Glidden stepped back and drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 31-26. Another South Portland miss was followed by a foul shot by Lindsey Kelley for a 32-26 lead before Red Riots Coach Lynne Hasson called a timeout.
It helped only briefly.
Whitmore hit a 12-footer on the left baseline to stop the Scarborough run. But Glidden banked in a 10-footer from the left and, after a steal by Josie Couture, Malone swished a 3-pointer from the left corner and it was stunningly 37-28.
“Senior captain,” said Giordano, of Malone. “You expect those kids to step up and hit the big shot when you need it. And she did.”
But the Red Storm knew they couldn’t let up.
“I knew they weren’t going to give up,” said Malone, who scored 13 points. “They’ve got some good players. I knew we still had to give it our all and that’s what we did.”
A 3-pointer by Eva Mazur and a layup by Whitmore (12 points) cut it to 37-33 with 2:58 remaining. But Scarborough got the next six points – all at the foul line (Glidden two, Malone two and then Glidden two more) – and it was 43-33 with 37 seconds remaining.
Hasson credited Scarborough’s defense with shutting her team down.
“We struggle out here for whatever reason,” she said. “And they have a good team. They executed their game plan and played well enough to beat us.”
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