RICHMOND — The Richmond Bobcats know they will have more than their fair share of nights like Wednesday night’s 54-19 win over North Yarmouth Academy, where the outcome is all but decided before opening tip.
The challenge for the Bobcats and coach Mike Ladner is to make sure the lack of drama never translates into a lack of focus on the ultimate goal of making a splash in their first season in Class C.
They opened the season by winning a nailbiter at Rangeley, last year’s Western D champion, 42-40. They followed that with a 51-17 win over Hyde.
On Wednesday, NYA scored the game’s first points on a 3-pointer by Maggie Larson (10 points). Richmond scored the next 24 points and limited NYA to three shot attempts in the first 12 minutes while forcing 22 turnovers and collecting 18 offensive rebounds.
The starters played the first and third quarters and dominated, led by Sydney Tilton (13 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals) and Kelsea Anair (nine points, seven rebounds, five steals). The new-and-improved bench, featuring additions MacKenzie and Ashley Abbott and Kyla Johansen, kept the hammer down in the second and fourth quarters.
Richmond tried to beef up its Class D East/West Conference schedule with some Class C competition this year. But with most of the closest geographic options tied to the closed Mountain Valley Conference, it found few takers aside from Old Orchard Beach and Machias.
That likely means the Bobcats will have to play for more than the scoreboard in a lot of games this season if they hope to be playing their best when the competition ramps up at the Class C South tournament in February.
“One of the big things we’ve been preaching this year, from Day 1, is mental toughness and always being prepared, even when we’re playing a team like this that is a little down,” Ladner said. “We need to be able to stay focused and work on the little things. Like I tell the girls, the devil is in the details.”
They’re still working out some of the details on offense. The Bobcats took 42 shots to the Panthers’ nine in the first half but made 29 percent. On the bright side, they kept working even when their shots weren’t falling, crashing the offensive glass for 18 rebounds.
“Our offense is a work in progress but I think we’re getting better,” Ladner said.
“Last night, we saw a zone. Tonight we saw a zone,” he added. “That’s a couple of good tests for us because Saturday we go up to Searsport for the first time.”
The key to beating a zone — or any defense for that matter — is ball movement, and the Bobcats had moments of crispness in the halfcourt offense Wednesday. Often, their best moments came when Anair and Tilton worked two-man games, usually with Tilton in the high post and Anair in the low post.
“Those two play great together. They feed off of each other,” Ladner said.
The 5-foot-9 Anair and 5-8 Tilton dominate the paint in most games but they’re also capable of scoring from the perimeter. They also have a lot of help from the outside, whether it’s starting guards Autumn Acord and Meranda Martin (eight points, four steals) or the reserves.
The bench got deeper this year when the Abbott sisters transferred from Class C power Boothbay. MacKenzie, a junior, was first off the bench Wednesday, scored four points and showed good court awareness. Ashley, a freshman, hit the floor a little later and showed a good outside shot (five points, including a 3-pointer) and tenaciousness on the defensive end.
“They bring a lot of athleticism, plus they have a really nice outside shot so we’re able to stretch the defense,” Ladner said. “They’re just a couple of really good guards.”
Usually, it takes some time for the new additions to feel comfortable on the court, but MacKenzie Abbott leaves no doubt how she feels about her new team.
“It’s hard to explain, but I like it a lot better than it was down to Boothbay,” she said.
She said she already feels more in sync with her teammates at the offensive end than she ever did at Boothbay.
“It’s the communication and the level of how people get open. It’s so much easier for us to find each other. We all know where we belong,” Abbott said.
Ladner said Johansen, a 5-10 transfer from Washington state, is easing into her role a little more slowly but should give opponents someone else to worry about in the paint in the not-too-distant future.
“I think you’ll see her role is going to expand,” he said. “She’s played for a few years but she’s fairly raw, but you can’t teach height.”
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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