We may have been too quick to publish our story about dominant performances to start the high school basketball tournament. Because the still-undefeated Penobscot Valley girls definitely deserve a spot on that list.
The girls from Howland entered the Class C North tournament as the number one seed, and wasted no time proving why Tuesday night at the Cross Insurance Center. The Howlers jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the first quarter and the Central girls from Corinth just couldn’t keep up. Howland ended up winning 80-30.
The Howlers put on an offensive clinic throughout the night, and by our count based on live stats from Maine Basketball Rankings and the Maine Principals’ Association, their 80 points were the highest total for any team in any region or class through four days of tournament play at the major venues. The top-seeded boys from Class B Caribou previously held that distinction with a 78-42 win over Belfast Saturday night.
If there was a single sequence that summed up Penobscot Valley’s win Tuesday, it was the sideline save sophomore guard Brooklynn Raymond made on defense before launching a long pass down the court to junior guard Rylee Moulton, who somehow grabbed the ball between two defenders and dished to senior guard Ellie Austin for an impressive and-1 basket.
Moulton led all scorers with 25 points for the Howlers. Austin was right behind with 23. Mary Allen carried the scoring for Central with 19 of their 30 points.
After the game, Moulton spoke with reporters about the win.
“It just gives us some extra momentum going into our next round game,” she said. “Now we’ve got to shift our focus to that game, and hopefully bring the same energy and same start and fire that we did this game, and just keep that going throughout the rest of our tourney run.”
She was asked about her team’s offensive performance in particular.
“That’s what we do, we’re really good at scoring the ball as five [players],” Moulton said. “We move the ball well, because if somebody is not going to put the ball in tonight, then the other four will. We know how to move the ball and get each other open looks.”