STANDISH—The Scots and the Storm went nose-to-nose for the first two of four quarters on Friday night, Dec. 14, entering the break at 35-35. In the second half, though, Bonny Eagle’s fire ebbed, while Scarborough’s continued to burn bright: the home team found themselves outscored 24-9 in those last 16 minutes, and succumbed in the end 59-44.
“They can shoot. We knew they can shoot, coming in,” said Bonny Eagle head coach Scott Regan. “Every one of their players can shoot the three, every one of their players can ball handle. It makes it tough, because who do you shut down?” The Storm knocked down eight threes in the game, to the Scots’ five.
The sides traded blows through the first half: Bonny Eagle opened with a basket, and Scarborough answered; Scarborough went up 5-2, and Bonny Eagle evened things out. The Storm regained the edge at 14-12, but gave it up to the Scots at 19-17. After one, Bonny Eagle stood on top 23-19. Taylor Johnson, Sam Averill and Emily Bartash added seven apiece for the Scots in the quarter.
The back-and-forth continued unabated through the second. Scarborough pulled ahead 31-26, midway through the stretch, but Bonny Eagle battled back and tied things up on a Mackenzie Emery bucket just before the break. 35-35.
“They’re 3-0 for a reason,” Regan said of Scarborough. “They’re putting up points. They put up 60 the other night, against Sanford. They took us out of our play; they out-muscled and out-hustled us at times.”
The wheels came off for the Scots in the second half. They’d done everything right to begin the contest, buy couldn’t maintain that momentum through the downhill quarters. Bonny Eagle managed just seven in the third – on a pair of Emery foul-shots and a three and a two by Avianna Rath – and two in the fourth, on a single bucket by Averill. Scarborough, meanwhile, kept their cool and outstripped their hosts. 59-44 the final.
“They beat us 20-9 in the second half,” Regan said. “Normally, if we give up 20 points in a half, that probably wouldn’t be a bad thing. But when you only score nine, that’s the bad part. We scored 35 in the first half, 23 in the first quarter; we scored [21] over the last three quarters. They made the adjustments, and obviously I didn’t have us ready to play them.”
“We just stopped shooting like we’re capable of,” Regan said. “They kept shooting and they kept making, and we just couldn’t finish anything. Their size starts to play on us a little bit – they’ve got size on us in almost every position. We’re going to face that every night – we know that.”
The Scots’ standout point guard, Emery finished with 12 on the evening, but only two – free-throws, both of them – in the second half. Johnson finished with seven, Emma Abbott with two, Averill nine, Rath five, and nine.
Jocelyn Couture finished with 21 for Scarborough, and Madison Blanche with 16.
Bonny Eagle slipped to 1-2 on the loss. The team picked up a 41-35 win over Cheverus on Tuesday the 18th; they travel to Noble on Thursday the 20th.
Adam Birt can be reached at abirt@keepmecurrent.com. Follow him on Twitter: @CurrentSportsME.
Emma Abbott ascends toward the net.
Sam Averill plants, looking for the basket, as a Storm opponent swoops past.
Mackenzie Emery attacks for the Scots.
Taylor Johnson lofts up a jumper for the Scots.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.