READFIELD — In February, when it plays in the tournament, the Waterville Senior High School girls basketball team will be able to look back at Thursday’s game at Maranacook and know it can hit free throws.
The Purple Panthers scored more than half their points at the foul line, making 22 of 27 free throws to take a 41-28 win. The victory kept Waterville undefeated at 12-0, while Maranacook is 7-5.
“It was just a good night. I’d like to say we practice (foul shots) as much as we can,” Waterville junior Maddy Martin, who was 9 for 9 at the line and finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, said.
Waterville built its double digit lead in the first half by aggressively attacking the basket and getting to the line.
“That’s something we focused on coming out tonight, we needed to attack and not settle for jump shots. We shot 33 jump shots the other night,” Waterville coach Rob Rodrigue said.
The Panthers went 13 for 18 at the line in the first half, and were a perfect 8 for 8 in the second.
“When they started to come out on us, we weren’t getting the normal shots we would usually get. I felt like we were getting back cuts,” Martin said. “We were getting chances to attack more. It was a different game for us. We did pretty good.”
“Sometimes we were slow to rotations. We changed up a couple things in the second half to try to stop that,” Maranacook coach Karen Magnusson said.
Sadie Garling’s layup at the buzzer gave the Panthers a 29-16 halftime lead. In the third quarter, utilize its strong fullcourt pressure, Waterville held the Black Bears scoreless, pushing the lead to 35-16 going to the fourth quarter.
“That’s what they do. I actually thought we did an incredible job breaking pressure,” Magnusson said.
The Black Bears broke a 10-minute scoring drought when Anna Drillen made a three 15 seconds into the fourth quarter. For much of the second half, Waterville was content to be patient on offense, passing the ball around the perimeter and using clock with its double digit lead against Maranacook’s diamond and one defense.
Waterville dominated on the boards, with 19 offensive rebounds. Maranacook grabbed its first individual rebound just over a minute into the second quarter, when Grace Despres pulled down a defensive board.
“I think we’re hard to keep off the rim, and if you can’t keep us off the rim, you’d better find our shooters,” Rodrigue said.
Drillen led Maranacook with eight points.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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