CECE HANCOCK of Lake Region drives past Fryeburg Academy defender Julia Quinn for a shot during the first half on opening night. (Rivet Photos)

By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

Sean Watson thought he had a good game plan to slow down Lake Region’s Big 3 — center Tiana-Jo Carter and guards Sarah and CeCe Hancock.

“Our rules for the game were, if you were guarding anyone not named Hancock, you were going to double down fully on Carter. If you were guarding a Hancock, you were going to slide down on Carter just far enough where you could recover to defend the three-point shot,” the Fryeburg Academy coach said. “Obviously, it didn’t work as Carter got her points (six of the Lakers’ first eight points, 14 for the game).”

While Coach Watson was hardly surprised how well the Lakers shot en route to their 59-29 opening night win in Naples, he was however, caught a little off guard.

Lake Region freshman Kristen Huntress went 4-for-4 from behind the 3-point arc and senior Jordan Turner knocked down three treys to finish with 13 points as the Lakers connected for eight 3-pointers on the night.

“Those girls deserve a lot of credit. They shot the ball very well,” Coach Watson said.

As for the press, the Raiders didn’t see a whole lot of pressure in the preseason, and Coach Watson admitted he lacks the personnel to simulate in practice leading up to the opener what the Lakers would throw at the Raiders.

Pressure was what set the tone for the night as Lake Region’s full-court press forced 15 first quarter turnovers by Fryeburg Academy, which sparked an 8-0 run to start the game as the Lakers built a 21-7 lead after a quarter.

“The energy here was awesome. Fans were great. Our kids did a really good job getting into our defensive pressure sets, which led to some easy baskets,” Laker Coach Paul True said. “We have a number of kids who can attack the basket or shoot the three. I didn’t think there was any second guessing, which is so important when kids receive the ball and shoot it. They were catching the basketball ready to shoot. They weren’t thinking pass first, and then realizing, ‘I’m open and I should shoot.’ They were catching, ready and confident to shoot the ball. That’s what they need to do.”

MCKENNA GERCHMAN of Fryeburg Academy scores on a lay-up while being defended by Lake Region's Lucy Fowler.

Fryeburg finally got on the board at 4:58 on a strong drive to the hoop by sophomore forward Lexi L’Heureux-Carland (eight points, five rebounds).

Lake Region gave fans a full view of their multi-faceted offense as they drained four 3-pointers over the final 3:21.

Scoring droughts were a big problem for the Raiders a year ago, and it put them in a big hole Saturday night as L’Heureux-Carland made 1-of-2 foul shots at 5:44 in the second quarter, which proved to be the only points FA would put up on the scoreboard, resulting in a 34-8 halftime deficit.

Again, the Lakers moved the ball effectively, resulting in two inside buckets and three 3-pointers (two by Huntress, whose confidence seemed to grow as she rarely hesitated to pull the trigger on an open look).

Fryeburg’s offense started to get some traction in the third quarter, actually out scoring the Lakers 14-12 as sophomore guard Julia Quinn knocked down two 3-pointers on consecutive possessions.

Lake Region did not get caught up in their success from downtown. Instead, they made a concerted effort to work the paint in the third quarter with CeCe Hancock frequently driving the lane, resulting in a 3-for-4 effort from the foul line. Freshman Melody Millett collected an offensive rebound, scored and made a foul shot to close out the LR quarter with her club up 46-22.

With Carter on the bench, reserve center Meghan VanLoan was solid inside with three rebounds, a blocked shot and a foul shot over a three-minute span.

The Lakers finished strong with a 13-7 run as five different players figured in the scoring.

While the Raiders experienced a rough start, Coach Watson did see some silver linings from opening night.

“I thought we showed much more poise in the second half. I though we did a decent job offensively in the second half. We had decent individual performances at times, but the game is not based on ‘decent individual performances at times,’” Coach Watson said. “Julia did knock down a couple of threes. She has put a lot of time and effort into improving her shot and that work is paying off. We just dug ourselves a hole early and we didn’t stop digging until the second half.”

SYDNEY CHARLES of Fryeburg Academy looks to block a shot attempt by Lake Region's Miranda Chadbourne.

Coach Watson expected a difficult matchup with his cross-district rivals.

“I think we need to realize that Lake Region is an exceptional team, and they have been for a long time. They have set the bar very high in the WMC. The standard has been set for everyone else in the conference. We, like everyone else, I’m sure, are working hard every day to reach a similar level of success,” he said. “We are not going to let one poor game against an exceptional opponent dictate our season. We’ve got to be tough mentally, practice hard, be supportive teammates, and be ready to do the things that good teams do in order to improve.”

Stat lines: Fryeburg was 11-of-20 from the foul line, 55%, while the Lakers rebounded from a 1-for-6 start to finish 9-of-17, 53%...LR won the battle of the boards, 32-24. Top rebounders were: LR, Carter 11, VanLoan seven; FA, Skye Dole six, L’Heureux-Carland five, Nicole Bennett four…Turnovers, LR 17, FA 28.

Up next

Lake Region travels to York on Friday for a 6:30 p.m. game and is on the road Tuesday, Dec. 17 against Wells at 6 p.m. Next Thursday, the Lakers host Falmouth at 7 p.m.

It’s a tough stretch, one that will tell a lot about this Laker team.

“Two early — I stress early because we have a long ways to go — indicators against playoff-caliber teams,” Coach True said of York and Wells. “We’re going to continue to stress pressure defense without fouling. We’re going into two different environments, and it will be interesting to see how our kids respond. Both atmospheres will be electric, and those communities are going to come out to hopefully see the Lakers lose. We don’t spend a lot of time talking about the fact that most teams really get up to play us. Our kids need to know that every single night, teams are going to put their best foot forward against us. So when we step onto the floor, we have to at least match the other team’s intensity. If not, ratchet it up another notch and see how that team responds. Again, we’re capable of doing that.”

Fryeburg Academy travels to Freeport Friday for a 6:30 p.m. game and hosts Kennebunk on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 6 p.m.SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/wayne/Desktop/website/SP%20w50%20lr%20girls%20down%20FryeburgCORR.doc @font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }@font-face { font-family: "HelveticaNeue"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

SP w50 lr girls down Fryeburg

By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

Sean Watson thought he had a good game plan to slow down Lake Region’s Big 3 — center Tiana-Jo Carter and guards Sarah and CeCe Hancock.

“Our rules for the game were, if you were guarding anyone not named Hancock, you were going to double down fully on Carter. If you were guarding a Hancock, you were going to slide down on Carter just far enough where you could recover to defend the three-point shot,” the Fryeburg Academy coach said. “Obviously, it didn’t work as Carter got her points (six of the Lakers’ first eight points, 14 for the game).”

While Coach Watson was hardly surprised how well the Lakers shot en route to their 59-29 opening night win in Naples, he was however, caught a little off guard.

Lake Region freshman Kristen Huntress went 4-for-4 from behind the 3-point arc and senior Jordan Turner knocked down three treys to finish with 13 points as the Lakers connected for eight 3-pointers on the night.

“Those girls deserve a lot of credit. They shot the ball very well,” Coach Watson said.

As for the press, the Raiders didn’t see a whole lot of pressure in the preseason, and Coach Watson admitted he lacks the personnel to simulate in practice leading up to the opener what the Lakers would throw at the Raiders.

Pressure was what set the tone for the night as Lake Region’s full-court press forced 15 first quarter turnovers by Fryeburg Academy, which sparked an 8-0 run to start the game as the Lakers built a 21-7 lead after a quarter.

“The energy here was awesome. Fans were great. Our kids did a really good job getting into our defensive pressure sets, which led to some easy baskets,” Laker Coach Paul True said. “We have a number of kids who can attack the basket or shoot the three. I didn’t think there was any second guessing, which is so important when kids receive the ball and shoot it. They were catching the basketball ready to shoot. They weren’t thinking pass first, and then realizing, ‘I’m open and I should shoot.’ They were catching, ready and confident to shoot the ball. That’s what they need to do.”

Fryeburg finally got on the board at 4:58 on a strong drive to the hoop by sophomore forward Lexi L’Heureux-Carland (eight points, five rebounds).

Lake Region gave fans a full view of their multi-faceted offense as they drained four 3-pointers over the final 3:21.

Scoring droughts were a big problem for the Raiders a year ago, and it put them in a big hole Saturday night as L’Heureux-Carland made 1-of-2 foul shots at 5:44 in the second quarter, which proved to be the only points FA would put up on the scoreboard, resulting in a 34-8 halftime deficit.

Again, the Lakers moved the ball effectively, resulting in two inside buckets and three 3-pointers (two by Huntress, whose confidence seemed to grow as she rarely hesitated to pull the trigger on an open look).

Fryeburg’s offense started to get some traction in the third quarter, actually out scoring the Lakers 14-12 as sophomore guard Julia Quinn knocked down two 3-pointers on consecutive possessions.

Lake Region did not get caught up in their success from downtown. Instead, they made a concerted effort to work the paint in the third quarter with CeCe Hancock frequently driving the lane, resulting in a 3-for-4 effort from the foul line. Freshman Melody Millett collected an offensive rebound, scored and made a foul shot to close out the LR quarter with her club up 46-22.

With Carter on the bench, reserve center Meghan VanLoan was solid inside with three rebounds, a blocked shot and a foul shot over a three-minute span.

The Lakers finished strong with a 13-7 run as five different players figured in the scoring.

While the Raiders experienced a rough start, Coach Watson did see some silver linings from opening night.

“I thought we showed much more poise in the second half. I though we did a decent job offensively in the second half. We had decent individual performances at times, but the game is not based on ‘decent individual performances at times,’” Coach Watson said. “Julia did knock down a couple of threes. She has put a lot of time and effort into improving her shot and that work is paying off. We just dug ourselves a hole early and we didn’t stop digging until the second half.”

Coach Watson expected a difficult matchup with his cross-district rivals.

“I think we need to realize that Lake Region is an exceptional team, and they have been for a long time. They have set the bar very high in the WMC. The standard has been set for everyone else in the conference. We, like everyone else, I’m sure, are working hard every day to reach a similar level of success,” he said. “We are not going to let one poor game against an exceptional opponent dictate our season. We’ve got to be tough mentally, practice hard, be supportive teammates, and be ready to do the things that good teams do in order to improve.”

Stat lines: Fryeburg was 11-of-20 from the foul line, 55%, while the Lakers rebounded from a 1-for-6 start to finish 9-of-17, 53%...LR won the battle of the boards, 32-24. Top rebounders were: LR, Carter 11, VanLoan seven; FA, Skye Dole six, L’Heureux-Carland five, Nicole Bennett four…Turnovers, LR 17, FA 28.

Up next

Lake Region travels to York on Friday for a 6:30 p.m. game and is on the road Tuesday, Dec. 17 against Wells at 6 p.m. Next Thursday, the Lakers host Falmouth at 7 p.m.

It’s a tough stretch, one that will tell a lot about this Laker team.

“Two early — I stress early because we have a long ways to go — indicators against playoff-caliber teams,” Coach True said of York and Wells. “We’re going to continue to stress pressure defense without fouling. We’re going into two different environments, and it will be interesting to see how our kids respond. Both atmospheres will be electric, and those communities are going to come out to hopefully see the Lakers lose. We don’t spend a lot of time talking about the fact that most teams really get up to play us. Our kids need to know that every single night, teams are going to put their best foot forward against us. So when we step onto the floor, we have to at least match the other team’s intensity. If not, ratchet it up another notch and see how that team responds. Again, we’re capable of doing that.”

Fryeburg Academy travels to Freeport Friday for a 6:30 p.m. game and hosts Kennebunk on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 6 p.m.