Windham Middle School’s seventh grade girls’ basketball team trailed at halftime during a game against Westbrook’s Paper City. Despite a slow start, the WMS offense battled back in the second half and surpassed Westbrook to take the lead and win 29-16 in a Maine Basketball League Playoff game at Portland Turf Sports Complex on Saturday, Jan. 24.
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| Ella Higgins of Windham Middle School's Seventh Grade girls' basketball team is unstoppable as she heads to the basket in a Maine Basketball League playoff game against Westbrook's Paper City at Portland Turf Sports Complex on Saturday, Jan. 24. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA |
“We played better in the press, created more turnovers which turned into points,” said Brinley Sargent of WMS. “Playing in our zone defense turned the game in our favor.”
Sargent said teamwork led to the win and to win their next game they need to close out when they shoot and crash the boards. And she said that they’ll be ready to win next time.
Windham came out aggressive and had strong defense right from the start. Ella Higgins had two turnovers against Westbrook early in the game. This was a low scoring game to start, and not a lot of Windham’s shots were falling.
Westbrook led 10-7 at intermission.
In the second half, Windham showed this was their game to win and they intended on doing so. Eagle offense was ramped up and Kelenese Dickson sank a three-pointer. Windham defense remained strong.
“I think we realized that we are better than this team and definitely moved the ball around while looking up to see who was open,” said Dickson. “It felt great (to sink those three pointers). It helped our team gain confidence and a better mindset. I think we won because we didn’t give up even though we started a little slow. I hope we train hard in practice and practice being more aggressive so we can continue to win.”
This close game was now tied 14-14. Avary Caiazzo sunk a basket from the foul line and Windham began to pull away. Shots were falling for the Eagles.
“We did a lot better on talking to each other on our cuts and passes, spacing and moving the ball around,” said Higgins. “I think we made smart decisions on where we were going to pass the ball and what were good shots and what were bad shots.”
A little under 5 minutes remained in the game and the Eagles had over a 10-point lead. Dickson nailed another three-pointer and as the clock wound down, this game was too far out-of-reach for Westbrook.
“Westbrook was pressuring our ball and our guards up high,” said Windham seventh grade girls’ coach Ben Delewski. “We just had more movement on the initial pass. The wings went down to the corners and more initial movement opened things up. I liked our defense the whole time, we switched between zone and man – which at seventh grade is kind of hard – but they are coming along, our 2-2-1 full-court press went well. It’s one game at a time, but we’ll ... face Greely, who we haven’t beat yet this season. It’ll go back to offense in the second half where we have to have more off-the-ball movement early in our offense that should open up things. We always rely on our defense – that’s our bread and butter.”
The Windham Middle School Seventh Grade girls’ team will face Greely at Biddeford Intermediate School at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31 as the Maine Basketball League playoffs continue. <
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