SACO — Kylie Lamson wasn’t on the Thornton Academy girls’ basketball team when it played Scarborough in last year’s playoffs. But she didn’t need to be to know the storyline of the rematch.
“Revenge game,” she said.
Indeed it was, and the Golden Trojans enacted a measure of payback. Lamson, a freshman, had 16 points and nine rebounds in her varsity debut, Addisen Sulikowski added nine points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, four blocks and three steals and Thornton defeated Scarborough in its opener, 58-33.
The game was the first meeting for the teams since the Red Storm beat the Trojans, 40-31, in a Class AA South semifinal last season.
“We really wanted to show that this is a team that we can beat,” Sulikowski said. “We were shooting really well (Tuesday), which really was the difference in the Civic Center last year. I think we played really well this (time).”
Thornton found its familiar rhythm, hitting 10 3-pointers, and this time it was the Red Storm (1-1) who struggled from the field.
“We certainly had a bad taste in our mouth from February until now,” Coach Eric Marston said. “I think these guys wanted to come out and start the season on the right foot. It just made it more motivational for the girls, the fact that it was Scarborough.”
One of the Trojans’ newcomers provided the early spark. Lamson immediately made her presence felt, hitting three 3-pointers in the first quarter to help Thornton to a 13-10 lead, and accumulating 11 points, six rebounds and two steals by halftime.
“She’s exceeded even the expectations I had of her,” Marston said. “She’s an absolute gamer. She doesn’t play like she’s a freshman, she really likes the pressure moments.”
There were no nerves, Lamson said.
“Not really. (I had) a lot of confidence,” she said. “I always want to make sure I’m confident. Sometimes when I’m shooting and I get down on myself, I lose all my confidence. But I try to keep it up.”
Her teammates followed suit. Hannah Cook (12 points) hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter that opened up a 25-12 lead. Jessica Dow scored 13 points and hurt Scarborough in transition. And Sulikowski, whose shooting stroke was offline much of the night, made up for it with her rebounding, passing an on-ball defense against top Scarborough scorer Caroline Hartley (16 points).
“If your shots aren’t falling, you can’t hang your head,” Sulikowski said. “That’s what I’m working on this year. If my shots aren’t falling, what’s another way I can help the team, help to win?”
Scarborough, which also got eight rebounds from Hartley and nine points from Emerson Flaker, visibly struggled against Thornton’s hassling defense.
“We didn’t have a great night shooting, and I thought they were just so much more physical than we were,” Scarborough Coach Mike Giordano said. “You could see, they’re a mature team and I think their physicality was a huge difference tonight.”
The Red Storm are young, with only two seniors and one junior in Hartley.
“We’ve got to amp it up a bit to get to their level, and we’re not there yet,” Giordano said. “But we have a huge season ahead of us.”
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