CORINTH – The way Jody Grant was looking at it, Wednesday’s contest between his Dexter girls basketball team and the Central girls was going to be just as much of a boxing match as a basketball game.

“We knew they were going to come at us with some heavy blows, and we knew if we could take those blows and come back with our own run, we’d be fine,” Grant said.

Central tried to land some punches, and did take the lead at one point in the second quarter, but couldn’t hold off the defending Class C state champions. Dexter got a game-high 17 points and 11 rebounds from 6-foot-4 senior Ashley Ames in a 43-28 victory at a packed Central High gymnasium.

It was a good early test for the longtime rivals who played each other in the Eastern Maine final last year.

“I think people coming into this game were doubting themselves a little bit,” junior forward Sabrina Cote said. “Now they know that they’re fine.”

It’ll also give the Red Devils some confidence.

“I really feel we can beat them,” Central coach Diane Rollins said. “I know we need to do it, and not just talk about it.”

Dexter (3-0) used several runs to pull away from Central (1-1). The first came midway through the second quarter, after the Red Devils tied the game and took a 14-12 lead after a Caitlin Elliott baseline jumper 1:12 into the period.

Mallory Ames, the 6-6 sister of Ashley Ames, made a free throw to get Dexter to within one point, and then Ashley Ames hit a pull-up jumper for a 15-14 lead. Meagan Fogarty made two free throws, followed by a putback by Vanessa Hartford. Fogarty then scored off a Hartford pass with 1.5 seconds left in the period and the Tigers had a 21-14 lead at halftime.

Central’s zone defense kept Dexter from getting inside consistently, especially in the third quarter. The Red Devils scored twice in the first 1:01 to cut into Dexter’s lead, and after Ashley Ames put back a miss, Central’s Jenny Rollins made a free throw and Danielle Collins hit a jumper to make it 23-21 Dexter.

“We rushed a lot early and had a lot of times where we made one pass and that kind of played into their hands,” Grant said. “We just had to take our time, reverse the ball, try to get the ball inside.”

But the Tigers scored nine unanswered points in a stretch that lasted into the fourth quarter, and a seven-point run later helped seal the win.

Central missed eight of its 10 free-throw attempts after halftime and went 2-for-12 in the game.

Rollins, the Devils’ main offensive threat, shot 2-for-21 from the floor. She was guarded by Cote – a familiar matchup for both players.

“I just tried to force her away from her strong hand, away from her right hand, and just tried to challenge every single time she shot the ball,” Cote said.

Ashley Ames led both teams in scoring but struggled with 8-for-19 shooting.

“They always double [the strong-side post player] and that makes it really tough for us to get the ball in, so we have to rely on our guards to draw them out off of us,” she said.

TIGERS 43, RED DEVILS 28

Dexter (3-0) Central (1-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

M. Ames 2 5 1 2 5 D. Collins 3 6

Chapman 0 2 0 0 0 Elliott 3 15 6

Mountain 1 1 0 0 2 Brownell 0 0

N. Burton 1 7 0 1 2 Rollins 2 21 5

Fogarty 2 7 2 2 6 Underhill 3 7

Cote 1 5 3 6 5 Daniel 0 0 0 0

Hartford 2 6 2 2 6 Randall 1 1 2

A. Ames 8 19 1 1 17 Libby 1 6 2

Totals 17 52 9 14 43 Totals 13 50 12 28

Dexter 10 21 28 43

Central 10 14 21 28

3-pt. goals – Dexter (0-4): Chapman 0-2, N. Burton 0-2; Central (0-8): Rollins 0-8

JV: Dexter 42-17

Attendance: 350 (est.)