Massabesic 57

Gorham 47

The Massabesic girls’ basketball team continued its winning ways Friday night when they dispatched visiting Gorham 57-47. Brittany Benton led the Mustangs with 17 points and Georgia Boisse kicked in 16. The Rams were led by Lindsay Hansen and Natalie Egbert, who each had 11.

“I thought our girls played hard,” said Gorham coach Laughn Berthiaume. “We scored 47 points. That’s about 20 more than we have been scoring. Lately we’ve been struggling to score, so we tried to make it an up tempo game to get some points. And in stretches, that happened today.”

The Mustangs opened the game with a 13-2 run that gave them a lead they would never surrender. Boisse led the first quarter charge with six of her 16 points coming in the opening frame. The Rams finished the quarter with five straight points to make it a 13-7 contest.

“We started out strong,” said Massabesic coach Andy Soldati. “But I think the girls thought it would be easy. You have to give credit to Gorham-they fought hard. Their best player is hurt and she’s 25 points by herself. I think we got a little bit lazy at times. We didn’t capitalize on those turnovers like we should have.”

In the second quarter, Gorham hung right with Massabesic, matching the Mustangs basket for basket. Neither team was able to sustain a run during the second quarter and the Rams kept things close by shooting six out of eight from the free throw line. At halftime, the game was still close with the score 22-16.

Massabesic took over in the third quarter. The game remained close for the first few minutes of the second half. But midway through the third, the Mustangs began a 13-3 run that would end the quarter. Boisse picked up another six points during the run. Massabesic was able to keep the Rams from scoring thanks to their size advantage when grabbing for rebounds.

“(Rebounding) was the name of the game, no question,” Berthiaume said. “We talked about it before the game. That’s a veteran team and a big team, so when we get into a jumping contest, that’s one we’re going to lose. We lost a bit of focus on the backboards and that’s when they went on those runs.”

At the end of the third, the Mustangs were up 39-23.

Gorham was able to close the gap a little bit in the fourth quarter but it was much too late and the final score favored the Mustangs by 10 points. The Mustangs were scheduled to play Tuesday at Deering.

The loss was Gorham’s eighth in a row since Rachele Burns injured her knee against Thornton Academy. Without her, Gorham’s record drops to 5-9. Berthiaume could not overstate her impact on the team.

“You figure there are 25 points that she scores and 10 she’ll take away from the other team because they can’t press us,” he said. “Realistically if you tried to add up all the points she is worth in a game you might get 60 or 70 when you account for all facets of the game. For us, she had a hand in every offensive or defensive aspect of the game. Unless we were killing a team or she was in foul trouble, she never came off the floor.”

For the rest of this season Burns can only sit on the sideline and cheer on her teammates. Berthiaume thinks this experience will only benefit her in the end.

“She has a chance to get a new perspective on the game,” he said. “We’re trying to make the best of the situation because she has a year left. From the sideline she can see stuff that we see. She’s out there all the time so she doesn’t get that perspective from the sideline. That’s only going to benefit her next year.”

Gorham was scheduled to host Biddeford Tuesday night.