FAIRFIELD — As hard as it is to believe, Greg Chesley thinks there’s still more in his Bulldogs.
Lawrence shot the lights out Friday night, particularly from 3-point range, leaving visiting Winslow with nothing but astonishment as the Bulldogs rolled to a 69-49 win in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference girls basketball game inside a packed Folsom Gym. Brooklynn Lambert was the shining example of Lawrence’s hot night from the perimeter, finishing with a game-high 21 points — including a 5 for 6 night from behind the arc — as part of the Bulldogs’ 15 of 23 (65.2 percent) shooting performance from long range.
“I came out and shot the ball and it was going in,” Lambert said. “I figured I’d keep shooting it.”
“I kept seeing those shots go up,” Chesley said. “I kept thinking, ‘Man, we can’t keep making these, but they keep going in.’ We’ll take it. We shot the ball well.”
As a team, Lawrence made 24 of its 45 field goal attempts (53.3 percent) for the game. Keagan Alley added 14 points for the Bulldogs (10-4), while Megan Curtis chipped in with 11, including nine in the fourth quarter to help put the game away. Sarah Poli’s six-point, 14-rebound effort kept Winslow from fighting its way back into contention in the low post.
“I honestly think it can be better,” Chesley said. “We’ve also gotten some outstanding point games from our interior post players this year. Savannah (Weston) and Sarah Poli have had big games for us. We had some big defensive stops and Savannah’s length out on some of their shooters was key.”
Lawrence closed the first quarter on a 16-0 run to take an 18-6 lead after eight minutes, finishing the period having connected on seven of its 12 attempts from the floor. The Black Raiders (10-4) tried fighting back in the second quarter with a 16-6 run into halftime, but the Bulldogs just picked up where they left off when the third quarter began.
Scoreless in the first half, Alley made three 3-pointers in the third period to extend the Bulldog lead to 48-32 by the quarter’s end. Her fourth of the night, from the right corner with 7:10 remaining in the fourth, gave Lawrence a 53-34 lead and essentially put things out of reach.
“They hit every three in the book,” Winslow coach Brenda Beckwith said. “They were on fire, and they hit their shots. When you’re in a place where you have to react to what the other team is doing, it really puts you back on your heels.”
If there was any hope Winslow had of cooling Lawrence, it was on the glass. But too many one-and-done trips down the floor for the Black Raiders simply sent the Bulldog shooters free at the other end. As a team, Lawrence owned a 35-15 edge in rebounding over Winslow.
Weslee Littlefield led the Black Raiders with 11 points. Bodhi Littlefield and Maeghan Bernard each wrapped up the night with 10 points.
“They just schooled us tonight,” Beckwith said. “They were the much better team, and it certainly showed it on the scoreboard. We should have hit some of our shots. I think it would have changed how we presented in the game and changed some things. But when you don’t, you don’t.”
Ironically, one of the few shots Lambert missed was her final one — a layup off a press-breaking play midway through the fourth quarter.
“It was a big game for our whole team,” Lambert said. “We all shot really well. When we shoot well, we’re definitely as good as anyone. We can compete with anyone.”
Travis Barrett — 621-5621
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TBarrettGWC
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