Biddeford rallied from an 11-point deficit to grab another big early season win. The Tigers’ second half surge carried them past South Portland, 50-38, in a game played at Beal Gymnasium last Friday evening.

Emily Rousseau led the way for the Tigers with 18 points; Aimee Mortensen scored 15 and Alyssa Grigware chipped in with eight.

The Thornton girls rebounded from a loss to Bonny Eagle with a 54-48 win over Cheverus last Friday night. The Trojans led 29-19 at the half and they held off a fourth quarter surge by the Stags to pick up the win.

Senior forward Melissa Small led all scorers with 22 points. Junior Emma Morrison added 15 and freshman Kaitlyn Mathieu contributed 10.

*****

Former Thornton Academy basketball player and current Bonny Eagle girl’s basketball coach Sue Rondeau made her return to Saco on Tuesday, Dec. 12. Rondeau played for the Trojans girls basketball team, graduating in 1997 and this marked the first time that she coached against her former school.

“It was a little weird coming back to this gym and coaching against them,” Rondeau said. “I mean, you always have your high school pride but I was ready and it was fun.”

No doubt her return was made all the more fun when her squad picked up win number one on the season, 60-45. Bonny Eagle trailed by as many as 10 points at one time during the game, but some stingy defense and laser-like accuracy when shooting helped eliminate the deficit.

Both teams began the game using the full court press to cut down on their opponent’s shooting opportunities. In the first quarter, Thornton ripped off an 8-0 run that was buoyed by Bonny Eagle turnovers. The run allowed the Trojans to grab a 13-8 lead after one quarter.

“We came out strong and I was really proud of us for that,” said Thornton’s Melissa Small who had 15 points for her team.

In the second quarter, Thornton opened up their biggest lead of the game at 20-10, before the Scots seized control and pulled themselves back into contention.

“We took the press off hoping we would eliminate some of those easy baskets,” said Thornton coach Caryn Sherman. “But they did gain a lot of momentum in the second quarter and it definitely carried into the third.”

Without having to worry about breaking the press, Bonny Eagle was able to get better looks at the basket and that translated into better shots. The Scots parlayed that extra breathing room into a 12-3 run to end the half and pull to within one point. The run was highlighted by Lyndie Libby draining a three-pointer to get the Scots within five. At the break Thornton still held the lead, 23-22.

Rondeau spoke to her girls at halftime.

“I said ‘we’re a bunch of seniors on this team and you have to pick it up and play like you are,'” she said. “We have a lot of experience and leadership. I think we’re just hard pressing because it’s the beginning of the season and they want to win badly. They’re not focusing on what they really can do. So I just kind of tried to re-focus them that way.”

Her reminder to the seniors worked.

After trading baskets and the lead for the first few minutes of the second half, Meghan Ledoux hit a three-pointer and the Scots never looked back.

“I told the girls at halftime it was going to be a dog fight,” said Sherman. “Bonny Eagle has always been aggressive. They’ve always been a go after it kind of team and they proved that coming out strong right from the beginning.”

The Trojans fought to stay close but their shots weren’t falling, especially those shots from the free throw line where they were 9 for 27.

“You win games and lose games on the foul line and tonight was pretty evident of that,” said Sherman. “We came out in the second half playing not to lose as opposed to playing to win. It came down to mistakes here or there and defense. But I think struggling from the foul line really hurt us.”

Thornton pulled back to within one point but a foul sent Bonny Eagle’s Lacey Whitehouse to the line. She hit both shots and that touched off a 12-0 Bonny Eagle run that included another three-pointer from Libby. She had four on the night and finished with 19 points. That run effectively ended the game.

“They hit some threes, we lost intensity and we started to panic,” Small said. “That’s when we lose games. So we need to learn to take it as it comes and get over it and play harder in order to win.”

The Scots led by 10 to start the fourth quarter and pulled away for a 15 point win. The Trojans’ struggles at the line continued in the final frame. Meanwhile Bonny Eagle shooters were hitting their shots and rebounding well, keeping the ball out of the Trojans’ hands.

“That’s what we focused on at halftime, too – rebounding,” said Rondeau. “The last game we played we didn’t rebound well and we didn’t box out so we’ve been focusing on that at practice. We know we’re going to face bigger girls. We have athletes but inch-wise we’re going to face bigger girls every night.”

The Trojans drop to 1-1 with the loss and are scheduled to play Cheverus next. The Scots improve to 1-1 and will face McAuley Saturday afternoon.

*****

The Windham girls fell to 0-2 on the young season following Tuesday night’s 59-34 loss at Biddeford.

The Tigers came out of the gate very quickly taking a 15-2 lead after the first quarter and increasing that lead to 40-10 by halftime.

The Eagles did outscore the Tigers by a 24-19 margin in the second half, but Biddeford’s lead was too much to overcome.

Windham junior guard Taylor Graves was her team’s high scorer with 10. Allison Noble contributed nine points and Rhonda Cole added seven.

Windham opened the season with a 45-30 loss at home to Cheverus last Friday night. Noble was the high scorer for the Eagles with 12 and Cole chipped in with 10.

Lake Region ran away from Freeport on Saturday as the Lakers claimed a 75-23 season-opening victory.

The Lakers held a 21-3 advantage after one quarter and a 37-6 lead at the break as they cruised to their first Western Maine Conference win of the year.

Z.Z. Leighton led the way with 18 points and Emily Rowbotham added another 10.