March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Doyon, defense spark Howlers> Penobscot Valley tops Central in mutual opener

CORINTH – After shaking off its opening-game jitters and settling down to play a disciplined defense, the Penobscot Valley girls basketball team let its offense explode.

The Howlers of Howland scored 22 points in the third quarter for a 60-32 victory over Central. Both teams had games scheduled for Saturday but snow forced postponements, making Tuesday’s game a mutual opener.

Mitchelle Doyon, a 5-foot-2 senior guard, poured in 23 points and made seven free throws in a row in the second quarter for PVHS.

After starting off in a man-to-man pressing defense – and running into some foul trouble – PVHS coach Hank Doyon sent his team back onto the floor in a 2-3 zone to test the Red Devils’ perimeter offense.

Central responded just as Penobscot Valley wanted it to – the Devils struggled, shooting 3-for-15 from the floor in the second quarter and taking mostly quick jump shots.

“We wanted to press them man-to-man to see how their ball-handlers would respond. But that didn’t seem to work,” said Mitchell Doyon, the coach’s daughter.

“So we tried to pack it inside,” she added. “We knew they weren’t really great outside shooters so we wanted to take away their inside game.”

Doyon and Meghan Cyr were most poised in the third quarter, when they combined for 14 points.

The Howlers went into a zone press, forced turnovers and held the entire Central team to seven points.

“They were just antsy, like they had way too much sugar or something,” said Hank Doyon. “This is one reason I sat back into the zone, to settle them down, so when we did go back into the zone we were playing the passing lanes a lot better. Then when we did get the ball we were taking care of it and that turned into points.”

Penobscot Valley went on several short runs in the first half for a 22-11 lead at halftime. The Howlers outscored Central 10-2 to start the second quarter and Mitchell Doyon went 7-for-10 from the free-throw line in the period after missing her first two free throws of the quarter. Heidi McGinn added 11 points for Penobscot Valley.

Central coach Butch Pierce was pleased with his team’s defensive effort in the first half, when Mitchell Doyon managed just one field goal.

“We held them in the first half, and they’ve got some shooters, some kids who can shoot outside,” he said. “But they shut us down inside. We got looks at the basket but we couldn’t finish. We couldn’t be patient.”

Howlers 60, Red Devils 32

Penobscot Valley (1-0) Central (0-1)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Strout 0 4 1 2 1 Dube 1 3 0 0 2

Stevens 4 20 0 0 8 Porter 0 1 0 0 0

Lawrence 0 1 0 0 0 Doyon 7 15 8 14 23

Giles 0 1 1 2 1 Cyr 8 17 0 0 18

Shaw 0 6 1 2 1 Trafton 1 5 0 2 2

Goldsmith 0 0 0 0 0 Lloyd 0 1 0 0 0

Allen 1 5 0 0 2 Drost 2 6 0 0 4

Young 2 4 2 4 6 McGinn 5 8 1 2 11

Ahearn 4 6 0 0 8 Beshai 0 0 0 0 0

Lyford 0 0 0 0 0

Parker 2 4 0 0 4

Underhill 0 0 1 2 1

Totals 13 51 6 12 32 Totals 24 56 9 18 60

Penobscot Valley 11 22 44 60

Central 5 11 18 32

3-pt. goals: Penobscot Valley (3-6): Cyr 2-5, Doyon 1-1; Central: none

Attendance: 150 (est.)

Preliminary: Central 28-24


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