Lady Cougars roll over Rebels

DIXFIELD -- When things start clicking early on, it becomes contagious throughout the team and that's exactly what happened to Dirigo in its final regular-season home girls' basketball game.

What began as a slow pace eventually evolved in to a one-sided affair as the Lady Cougars turned the heat up in a 70-24 triumph against winless Telstar. Kelsey Hutchins led the offense with 12 points, but she was followed closely by Ambyr Wilson and Kayla Gaudin with 10 and nine points, respectively.

Dirigo honored its four seniors during pregame ceremonies, which included Lexi Noyes, Wilson, Gaudin and Gretchen Bradbury, along with manager Joey Pelote. The Cougars made a curtain call at Defoe Gymnasium, because they was scheduled to host a preliminary playoff game last night.

Dirigo had exercised patience early and led 6-4. However, the action turned as the Cougars applied defensive pressure, resulting in Telstar turning the ball over 10 times. Dirigo went on a tear, scoring 16 unanswered points to lead 21-4 after the first quarter. A three pointer by Wilson set things in motion and baskets by Hutchins (two), Lauren Henderson and Gaudin followed. The Rebels committed 10 turnovers in the first eight minutes, while the Cougars hadn't turned the ball over in the first quarter.

''We was able to use a lot of rotations,'' said coach Reggie Weston. ''Just about every one scored and received plenty of playing time.''

In the second quarter, baskets by Noyes and Rachel Knight opened up a 30-6 lead.

"It has been a positive season," said Telstar coach Brian Mills, who coached softball at Mountain Valley for 12 seasons. "We are young, (no seniors) with five freshmen, but our defense and free throws have improved and we've won a few quarters."

Telstar played well early during the first half of the third quarter, behind baskets by Becca Howard (nine points) and Tori Ryerson (nine points).

"We still struggle at times offensively. But, there's no quit in the girls, they show up and keep improving.''

The Cougars were able to pull away in the latter half of the third period with multiple-crisp passing that led to high-percentage baskets. Emma Leuders (six points) scored on a drive, while Meagan Bradbury and Hutchins each added baskets. The Cougars made seven of 13 shots, had one turnover and led 50-19 after three quarters.

Wilson banked in a trey off the glass in the fourth quarter.