Mariner Peyton Rice takes a layup January 25 against George Stevens Academy. By Jack Scott
The girls basketball team beat Bucksport 53-40 on January 21. We led 34-13 at the half. Coach Randy Shepard mixed the subs in for the third period and then played only subs in the last period. Bucksport whittled away at our lead, but we still maintained control. Kaylee Morey led us with 16 points. Rylee Eaton 13, Brienna Limeburner 7, and Brittany Gray 6.
The girls survived a poor shooting night to beat George Stevens 42-33 on January 25. Neither team shot well in what Coach Shepard called a defensive battle. We only shot 25 percent from the floor and 0 for 10 from 3-point range. It was a four-point game halfway through the fourth quarter when we made a little run at the end to secure the win. We did shoot well from the foul line, hitting 12 of 19 shots, which helped at the end. Rylee Eaton led us with 16 points, Brienna Limeburner and Macey Brown each had 7, and Kaylee Morey 6.
The girls worked hard to win a defensive battle January 27 against Schenck 39-30. After trailing 7-0 start, we battled back to take a slim lead. Schenck slowed down the game to a half court battle that was close until halfway through the fourth quarter. We pulled away to keep the lead with good foul shooting and some key rebounds. Coach Shepard mentioned the strong play of Kaylee Morey in directing the team in many ways that don’t show up in the stats. Scoring was limited and Rylee Eaton, Taylor Hardy, and Brittany Gray each had 8 points.
The girls are 15-1 and are in a pretty solid second place. We only have two games left, one of which is a rematch with Greenville, which will be good preparation for the tournament. We toughed it out against Schenck for a quality win. It showed we need to find the offense in the tough games ahead, but our defense and foul shooting has helped us at the end of close games.