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DEXTER – Not that anyone has beaten the Dexter girls basketball team yet this season, but Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln got as close as anyone has been in the second half of Wednesday evening’s matchup at Guiski Gymnasium.
But as the rest of the league has discovered over the years, Dexter’s combination of strong play from both its post players and guards was too much for the Lynx of Lincoln down the stretch. The Tigers worked around Mattanawcook’s zone defense and scored 19 unanswered points in the second half en route to a 61-33 victory.
Dexter senior Ashley Ames had game-highs with 19 points and 14 rebounds as the defending Class C state champions moved to 7-0.
The 6-foot-4 Ames put back an offensive rebound early in the run to make it an 18-point game and Mallory Ames, the 6-6 sophomore sister of Ashley Ames, scored all 12 of her points in the second half.
But it was transition play and shooting that really sparked the Tigers late in the third quarter.
MA’s Quinci Sanderson had just scored off a pass from Bre Hanscom to cut Dexter’s lead to 38-29 when Dexter point guard Nicci Burton scrapped for a loose offensive rebound. She grabbed the ball and got it out to Vanessa Hartford, who knocked down a midrange jumper with about three seconds left in the period.
Burton opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc and Ashley Ames sandwiched her put-back between two fast-break lay-ups by Meagan Fogarty. She played key minutes off the bench as starting forward Sabrina Cote got into foul trouble and Mattanawcook’s 2-3 zone made it a bit tougher to go inside.
“They were clogging the middle of the floor so we knew we had to make some big shots outside to spread the floor so we could get it in to Ashley and Mallory,” Burton said. “We just had to keep working the ball around.”
Ashley Ames said Dexter coach Jody Grant thought the Tigers were going to see a zone, so the team practiced for it before the game.
“We prepared for it because he figured they were going to pack it in in the post,” she said. “We were ready for it.”
The Tigers held the Lynx (3-3) scoreless for almost five minutes. Cami Cousineau ended Dexter’s run with 5:09 left in the game, but Mattanawcook scored just once more in the fourth. The Lynx had four turnovers in the quarter.
Dexter had a 33-16 lead at halftime. MA’s Shannon Pietras opened the third with a jumper in the lane followed by a Sanderson 3-pointer and then Hanscom went on to score six of her nine points in the third to help the Lynx keep pace.
“I am so pleased,” Mattanawcook coach Terri Thornton said. “I think they came in today thinking, can we play with Dexter? They became so confident and their ability to execute was high. If they can just take today’s experience and pull it over into the rest of the season, oh man. I couldn’t be happier.”
Pietras also had nine points and eight rebounds.
Cote finished with 12 points, all of which came in the first half. With her on the bench for stretches of the game, Grant turned to substitutes like Hartford and Fogarty.
“I’m confident I can play nine or 10 kids on any given night,” he said. “I thought Meagan Fogarty was absolutely huge. … These kids are just winners.”
TIGERS 61, LYNX 33
Mattanawcook (3-3) Dexter (7-0)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Pietras 4 12 0 2 9 M. Ames 5 7 12
Paul 0 2 2 2 2 Chambers 0 0 0
Cousineau 1 3 0 1 2 Chapman 1 5 2
Vose 1 2 0 0 2 Mountain 0 2 0
Gulesian 0 0 0 0 0 N. Burton 3 8
Libby 0 0 0 0 0 Fogarty 2 2 4
Souers 1 1 0 0 2 Cote 6 9 12
Hanington 0 0 0 0 0 L. Burton 0 0
Sanderson 3 15 0 0 7 Hartford 1 2
Shorey 0 1 0 0 0 Alton 0 0 0
Thornton 0 0 0 0 0 Poirer 0 0 0
Martin 0 0 0 2 0 Clukey 1 2 2
Hanscom 4 8 1 3 9 A. Ames 6 13 11 19
Totals 14 44 3 8 33 25 49 19 61
Mattanawcook 5 16 29 33
Dexter 15 33 40 61
3-pt. goals – Mattanawcook (2-9): Pietras 1-2, Sanderson 1-7; Dexter (2-5): N. Burton 2-2, Chapman 0-3
JV: Mattanawcook 37-31
Attendance: 250 (est.)
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