WATERBORO — Leading by four at the half, the Massabesic girls basketball team would pour it on down the stretch and top Deering 49-31 on Tuesday night.
Kenzy Ouellette and Marissa Holt led the Mustangs to victory. Ouellette put up eight points in the fourth quarter and a game-high 15 overall. Holt made three 3-pointers in the second half and 14 points overall to secure the win for Massabesic.
“We came out strong in the first half. Normally, we’re a second half team so we just wanted to come out strong right from the start,” said Ouellette. “Usually at half, we’re super close. (In the third quarter,) we just wanted to get a big lead because we didn’t want to have to worry towards the end about having a close game.”
Massabesic head coach Chris Aube was impressed with Ouellette’s and the entire team’s performance.
“I think we got good effort from just about everyone. I thought we rebounded the ball pretty well. McKenzy and Marissa hit a couple of threes to kind of soften them up. I thought defensively we were pretty solid,” said Aube.
Massabesic came out strong in the first quarter, Holt and Skylar Renaud produced a lead that they would never relinquish. The Mustangs would end the first quarter with 19-12 lead over the Rams.
“We are really outsized most games that we get into. Emily Stinson’s really our only post so we’re trying to play a style that suits what our strengths are. Make it a little more difficult for teams to defend us,” said Aube.
The Rams would answer back in the second quarter, outpacing Massabesic 12-6 thanks to five points from Delaney Haines and a combined seven points from Gloria Muka, Victoria Garand and Mandy Mastropasqua.
“We have been trying to play more up tempo. Utilize our depth, which I think is our advantage. We had been struggling midseason scoring into the 30s. We tried to develop a little more of an entertaining style of play,” said Aube.
Massabesic dominated the third quarter to secure the win, outscoring Deering 14-3. Holt nailed two 3-pointers in the third to extend the Mustangs’ lead.
“I thought we shot it well. I thought that our defense really wore them out second half and we were able to jump out and really put the game away early in the third quarter,” said Aube.
In the fourth quarter, Deering would score 12 points, but Massabesic would answer back and score 13 to produce the final 49-31 score.
“We made some changes offensively, that’s really changed how we play. Defensively, we just covered the paint and sliding for help. We did well defensively,” said Ouellette.
Deering was led by Haines with eleven points and Mastropasqua with 9 points.
The Mustangs improve to 4-9 on the year, while Deering drops to 1-11.
Massabesic will travel to Noble on Friday.
“We’re basically playing a style where we worry about what we’re doing and they’re going to have adjust to what we’re throwing at them. Hopefully by playing 10-11 kids we’ll have their legs halfway through the third,” said Aube.
— Sports Writer Sienna Barstow can be reached at sbarstow@journaltribune.comor at 780-9018. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.