FREEPORT

Looking at the stats, there’s a quarter where one team scored six points, turned the ball over 12 times in one half, and was outrebounded in the other, 15-4. That same team had 16 steals, created 17 turnovers, and held its opponent to six second-half points.

That was the night for the Freeport High School girls basketball team, which shook off some early cobwebs and rolled to a 54-27 victory over Traip in a Western Maine Conference clash.

“I don’t know what the hiccup is. Mentally, we’re not prepared to do the little things and it shows,” said Freeport coach Mike Hart in regards to his team’s slow offensive start to each half. “We came out making foolish plays.”

The inside presence of Traip’s Reilly Eddy and Cassidy Delano kept Freeport off the boards in the opening quarter. The Rangers outrebounded the Falcons, 11-3 in the opening frame, grabbing four offensive boards. Eddy’s put back two minutes into the contest put Traip ahead 4-2, prompting a Hart timeout.

“Before the game coach reminded us to box out,” said Taylor Rinaldi. “He then called a timeout pretty quickly in the first quarter to remind us.”

Despite losing out on the rebounds, the Falcons found other ways to stop Traip. A full court defense pressured the Rangers all night, but especially in the first, as Freeport had seven steals, including steals and layups by Jessie Driscoll, Allie Goodman and Rinaldi, who also sank a 3-point basket late in the quarter to give the Falcons a 15-9 lead after eight minutes.

Freeport (3-1) came out in the second quarter, not quite getting the full-court offense coach Hart was looking for, but offense none the less.

“We want to play a full-court offense,” said Hart. “We didn’t really get that going as we weren’t very patient in the first half. Most of our points came on transition, as the defense started our scoring.”

Although Eddy kept rebounding for Traip in the second quarter, hauling in three more rebounds giving her seven in the first half to go along with her six points, Freeport kept finding the basket with different scorers.

While Caroline Smith set up the offense, Falcon players cut to different spots on the court, hoping to get open. Rinaldi found herself open a couple of times, sinking another 3-point basket and creating more havoc with her press, garnering a couple of more steals. After scoring seven points in the first quarter, the senior added eight more in the second to finish with 15 first-half points.

“Cut hard. That’s what we work on in practice,” said Rinaldi. “When we run our offense, if the cuts are done correctly, it works.”

Senior Taylor Dostie came off the bench to grab a couple rebounds and assists on baskets by Johanna Bogue-Marlowe and Rinaldi to help push Freeport’s lead to 32-21 at the break.

Third quarter struggles

Each team came out in the third quarter, appearing to have left their offenses in the locker room. The Falcons continued their suffocating defense that forced eight turnovers in the frame. Blocks by Smith, Goodman and Cat Gould denied the Rangers from making a field goal in the quarter.

While Traip struggled to score on one end, the Falcons had problems of their own. Despite picking up the rebounding effort, out rebounding Traip 10-4 in the quarter, the home team failed to get a rhythm going offensively. After hoops by Goodman and Lindsay Routhier, Goodman found Driscoll underneath, completing a nice pass for the basket and a 38-23 lead through three quarters.

“Offensively, we were trying a different set, we didn’t attack their zone well enough as we weren’t getting the ball underneath as much,” said Hart.

The final eight minutes was more indicative of how the Falcons like to play. They ran their full court offense, passing to one another unlike they had for the first 24 minutes. Driscoll fed Goodman, Goodman assisted Driscoll, Rinaldi found Smith. In all, the Falcons registered six assists in the last quarter, spreading the scoring around. Goodman had four points, three assists, two rebounds and a steal in the final quarter.

“I just went out and tried to make things happen,” said Goodman. “I came out more aggressive and more intense.”

Their defense was just as tough, allowing only four fourth-quarter points.

“I wanted to make sure we pressured the ball and got in the passing lanes defensively,” added Hart. “We should have come out to start the game that way, that kind of intensity.”

“Coach always stresses denying the wings and the ball, jumping in the passing lanes,” added Goodman.

Traip got its first field goal with 3:24 left in the fourth quarter, already trailing 50-25 at that point.

Rinaldi finished with a game-high 19 points to go along with five steals and a pair of 3-pointers. Driscoll ended with 12 points, while Goodman chipped in with eight. Goodman also had four rebounds. Smith registered four steals, five assists and three rebounds.

Traip’s Delano finished with a team-high 10 points and five rebounds while Eddy and Tezeta Aldez each chipped in six as the Rangers fall to 1-4.

Freeport 54, Traip 27

Traip — Kiki Huntress 0-1-1, Addy Hale 1-2-4,
Tezeta Aldaz 3-0-6, Reilly Eddy 3-0-6, Cassidy
Delano 5-0-10, Lola Moes 0-0-0, Julia Campion
0-0-0, Mia Perez 0-0-0, Claire Barbour 0-0-0,
Claire Dodge 0-0-0. Totals — 12-3-27.
Freeport — Caroline Smith 1-1-3, Johanna
Bogue-Marlow 2-0-4, Jessie Driscoll 6-0-12,
Allie Goodman 3-2-8, Taylor Rinaldi 7-3-19,
Hannah Spaulding 0-0-0, Cat Gould 0-0-0,
Lindsay Routhier 2-0-4, Megan Cormier 0-0-0,
Taylor Dostie 2-0-4, Hannah Groves 0-0-0,
Abby Brier 0-0-0, Rachel Wall 0-0-0, Annika
Thomas 0-0-0. Totals — 23-6-54.
3-point goals — Rinaldi 2.
Records — Freeport 3-1, Traip 1-4.
Up next for Falcons — Friday at Morse, 6:30
p.m.