The Trojans held a slim 6-1 lead after the opening quarter, but the visiting Tigers would get three 3-pointers from Brittany Roy in the second quarter as they outscored TA 19-7 and took a 20-13 lead into the break.
“I thought Biddeford came out with a tremendous amount of energy right from the start,” said TA coach Eric Marston. “They were hitting a lot of shots and we were missing quite a few and I thought we were playing pretty tight. In the second half, I thought we kind of loosened up a little bit.”
Coming out of halftime, Marston decided to switch from a man-to-man defense to a 1- 2-2 zone and it proved to be the difference maker.
The Trojans forced several Biddeford turnovers as they outscored the Tigers 17- 8 in the third to take a 30-28 lead into the fourth.
“We tried to speed them up a little bit in the second half,” said Marston on his switch to the zone, which was led by speedy guard Alex Hart. “She’s just so quick. I thought they did a pretty good job against it, but we were able to speed up the tempo and Alex can create headaches up top and we got some buckets going in transition.”
In the final period, the Trojans held Biddeford to just six points as they pulled away for the win.
Despite Biddeford coming in with a 2- 15 mark, Marston knew his team would be in for a battle.
“We knew coming into this game that records don’t mean anything. Anytime that you play Biddeford, you are in a difficult situation because of the rivalry,” said Marston.
TA was led by Kaylee Burns with 11 points and Ashley Howe with 10. Hart finished with nine points, while Cassidy Cochrane added six and Isabella Robinson chipped in with four.
Roy led Biddeford with 16 points. Brook Davis finished with 10 points and Grace Martin added eight points in the loss.
NOTES: Thornton Academy celebrated seniors Cochrane, Burns, Howe, Maizie Lee, Barrett Campbell, Hayden Campbell and Magdalena Kotrcova on Senior Night … Biddeford coach Liz Bell was ejected early in the fourth quarter after receiving back-to-back technical fouls. At the time Bell was ejected, the Tigers were called for eight fouls in the second half, while TA had yet to be whistled for a foul … TA finished the regular season with an 11-7 record and in fourth place in the Class AA South standings. The Trojans will likely face No. 5 Scarborough next week in the quarterfinals.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less