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Height, meet speed.
That’s how Winslow coach J.R. Richards is looking at tonight’s Class B state championship game against Western Maine champion Yarmouth.
The meeting between the teams, both of whom are going for their first gold ball, features a matchup between coach John Martin’s tall Clippers and the speedy Black Raiders at the Augusta Civic Center at 7:05 p.m..
“We want to get up and down the floor and they’re not really going to want to, so it’s going to be a clash of styles and that should make it fun,” Richards said.
The Black Raiders will look to 6-foot-2 junior center Stephanie Bossie for defense against players like center Meredith Shaw, who was named the Western Maine tourney MVP for 20-1 Yarmouth.
Shaw, a 6-2 junior, averaged 13.6 ppg in the tournament, as did 6-3 senior center Aylie Baker.
The two combined for about 14 rebounds per game in the regular season.
“Yarmouth is huge, bigger than we are, and I think that’s going to be our biggest obstacle, their post players,” Richards said. “They run high-low to perfection, and they handled a very good Lake Region team with [Baker] in foul trouble.”
Senior guard Lexie Brunnelle also figured into the regular-season scoring with 8.1 ppg, while 5-9 senior forward Melissa Moylan chipped in with 6.5 ppg.
Shaw, Baker, Brunelle and Moylan all contributed to Yarmouth’s 45-43 come-from-behind win over Lake Region of Naples in the Western Maine final.
Senior guard Chrissie Attura led the Western Maine Conference with 4.8 assists per game.
Bossie is by far Winslow’s tallest starter, but the Black Raiders handled taller teams in the Eastern Maine playoffs. Winslow beat Hermon, with 6-2 Malerie Hall and 5-11 Shannon Wiggin, in the quarterfinals.
And Winslow has speed on its side. Defenders like Eastern Maine tourney MVP Amanda Byrne, all-tourney forward Ashley Carter and honorable mention guard Brittany Morin blanketed teams in the postseason.
MDI coach Chip Taylor, whose Trojans fell to the Raiders in the Eastern Maine final, said senior guard Byrne was the fastest girl he’s ever seen.
“I don’t know why she’s not running track,” he said. “She can flat-out fly. She, in all honesty, is faster than most of my girls when she has the basketball and my girls are running next to her. That just shows you how fast she really is.”
Getting Byrne and the rest of the Raiders going in their full-court press is just what Richards hopes they can do against the tall Clippers.
“If we can dictate and dominate the tempo we’ll be successful,” he said.
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