MILO – Penquis girls basketball coach Brent Bailey liked what he saw from the Patriots in their season-opening game Friday night.

Penobscot Valley coach Joe Cyr liked what he saw, too – the last eight minutes of it, anyway.

The Patriots kept the game close, but the Howlers of Howland got a big fourth-quarter effort from junior Amanda Hallett as things finally clicked for PVHS in a 38-26 victory over Penquis as the regular season of high school basketball in Classes B, C and D got under way.

“I think it was the team getting the jitters out and we started coming together better,” Hallett said of Penobscot Valley’s play in the fourth quarter. “This is our first game and we’re really young. But everything started clicking.”

Hallett said she wasn’t expecting to play as much as she did, and looked tired as she left the game in the final minute after helping to key the run that put away the Patriots.

Penquis had a 22-19 lead at the end of the third quarter but Hallett made two free throws to get the Howlers to within one point in the first three seconds of the fourth. Penobscot Valley would regain the lead for good on a Morgan Cyr layup.

After Cyr’s basket, Hallett got the ball back with a steal and put in a layup after the ball was passed around to her. She created another steal and got the ball to Cyr, who drained a 3-pointer from the left side for a 29-22 lead.

Kate Hamlin of Penquis made two free throws to cut the lead to 29-24 with less them four minutes left, but on the Howlers’ next possession Hallett got the ball inside to 5-foot-9 forward Kelsy Lavertu for a basket.

Cyr hit another 3-pointer, guard Ashley Dawson put back a rebound, and Hallett scored on a fast-break layup after another steal. Penobscot Valley forced five turnovers in the fourth quarter while committing three.

Lavertu led the Howlers with nine points and Cyr followed with eight.

Neither team shot well early and both squads committed too many turnovers, which led to a 14-9 halftime lead for the Howlers. Penobscot Valley had a huge height advantage with Lavertu, 6-foot-1 Liz Snape, and the 5-7 Dawson all starting against a team whose tallest player is 5-8 Jenny Stetson – but the Patriots stayed right with the Howlers inside and both teams had 40 rebounds each.

Lavertu grabbed a game-high 13, while Dawson and Snape had six apiece.

“I thought our size would make a difference but we had to go small and [Hallett] really dug in deep,” Cyr said. “We were lucky to get away with this one.”

Hamlin, who is 5-5, led Penquis with 12 boards and 5-6 Dani Graves had 10. Even 5-2 Christina Gerrish had five rebounds.

That rebounding effort – plus the effectiveness of a 2-3 zone to block up in the inside mixed with some man-to-man defense – was just what Bailey liked to see.

“We just tried to fill [the zone] because they weren’t shooting very well from the perimeter,” he said. “I think it bothered them a little bit. … We’re going to have to play like that all year long, because we’re going to be out-heighted all year long.”

Hamlin scored 10 points, including a 3-pointer and a turnaround jumper early in the third to tie the game at 14-14.

HOWLERS 38, PATRIOTS 26

Penobscot Valley (1-0) Penquis (0-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Bernard 0 0 0 0 0 Hamlin 3 12 10

Foster 0 2 0 2 0 Graves 4 11 9

Hallett 2 4 0 0 4 Gerrish 0 4 0

Cyr 3 6 0 1 8 Johnston 0 2 0

K. Plourde 0 0 0 0 0 London 0 1 0

J. Plourde 2 10 0 0 6 Comeau 1 4 2

Dawson 2 5 2 2 6 Stetson 1 5 5

Snape 1 7 3 4 5

Lavertu 4 9 1 5 9

Totals 14 43 6 14 38 9 39 15 26

Penobscot Valley 11 14 19 38

Penquis 4 9 22 26

3-pt. goals – Penobscot Valley (4-9): Cyr 2-4, J. Plourde 2-5; Penquis (1-3): Hamlin 1-2, Comeau 0-1

JV: Penobscot Valley 34-18

Attendance: 200 (est.)