Lebanon
Lebanon (1-0) picked up where it left off in March by defeating Coe-Brown, 55-19, in Friday’s season opener at Lang Metcalf Gymnasium.
“A lot of people are saying ‘Oh, we lost this person, we lost that person,’ but I think we have a solid group of athletes,” said junior Anna Wolke, who chipped in 10 points toward the Raider cause. “And I think we’re going to be good.”
The Bears (0-1) came out in an aggressive three-quarter court trap, which Lebanon quickly solved and picked apart. The Raiders’ press breaker, led by 6-foot-1 Rebecca Wright (18 points, six rebounds), yielded easy layup after easy layup throughout the first half. Coe-Brown kept the pressure on, however, despite falling into a 14-0 hole early.
“It’s good for us,” Wright said of the near-constant pressure. “Hanover, Goffstown, they’re going to do that to us, so we have to get into those situations so that we can break pressure.”
Lebanon coach Tim Kehoe, who has won five titles with the Raiders over 25 seasons, seemed unsurprised by Coe-Brown’s pressure.
“We lost our guards from last year and teams are going to test us,” Kehoe said. “The only thing we can do if teams keep testing us is get layups.”
The Raiders first hoop of the season came 2:16 into the contest when Isabel Peress scored on a transition layup. Wolke followed with two free throws, Wright scored from in close and Wolke hit once again from the charity stripe to build a 7-0 lead, forcing a Bears timeout.
The visitors didn’t score a bucket until 6:38 was elapsed. They followed up the ice-breaker with two 3-pointers, cutting Lebanon’s lead to 16-8 after the first quarter. The defending D-II champs went on a 13-7 second-quarter run, then the Bears mustered just four points in the entire second half. Coe-Brown was paced by Ahna McCusker’s nine points and Lauren Curtin’s two 3-pointers.
Wright, Wolke and Peress (10 points) all contributed blocks to a Raider defensive effort that included 15 steals. Lebanon got two 3-pointers from Peress and one from Leah Mayes. Freshman Sally Rainey made a solid varsity debut for the hosts, scoring six points and grabbing six rebounds off the bench.
Wright had a strong freshmen campaign a year ago— leading the team in scoring with 14.5 points per game and earning first-team, all-state honors. The versatile post player improved over the offseason, according to her coach.
“She’s evolved 100 percent,” Kehoe said. “She’s bigger, she’s stronger, she’s an outside threat and an inside threat now.”
Several of Wright’s points came via transition layups and post moves, but she showed a soft shooting touch on a few occasions as well.
During the second half, the versatile center launched a right-side, 12-foot baseline jumper from a shade behind the backboard, resulting in two points.
“When I took it I was like ‘Oh, that didn’t seem right,’ ” Wright said. “I was kind of surprised that it went in.”
Eight different players scored for Lebanon’s balanced attack.
“In terms of who’s scoring, we just try to share the ball and run our offense,” Wolke said. “Whoever’s open, that’s who were going to get it to.”
Lebanon travels to Bishop Brady Tuesday and to Kennett on Friday.