NEWPORT — With the shots not falling for the seniors, it was a freshman whose clutch shooting spurred a dominant stretch for the Lawrence girls basketball team Tuesday before the Bulldogs’ bigs took over.
Freshman Maddie Provost scored 11 straight points in the second quarter to light the spark for a 28-4 Lawrence run as the Bulldogs claimed a 49-38 road victory over Nokomis. Bri Poulin (12 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks) and Lilly Gray (eight points) dominated on the boards for Lawrence, which notched its fourth consecutive win.
Nokomis took a 10-0 lead over Lawrence (5-2) early as poor shooting from the Bulldogs combined with 3-pointers from Brianna Townsend and Raegan King gave the Warriors an early lead. Although the Warriors would cool off a bit from the field later in the first quarter, they still led 15-6 after one as Lawrence simply could not get shots to fall.
With Nokomis (4-2) leading 16-10 in the second, though, Provost got Lawrence rolling. After draining back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the night, she maneuvered under the basket for a layup to make it 21-16 before a basket from Kaylee Elkins gave Lawrence a seven-point lead at the break.
“Maddie is a player who hasn’t been in the spotlight quite yet, but tonight, we put her in and I said, ‘Maddie, we need you to shoot; when you get in there, you have to let it fly,’” said Lawrence head coach Greg Chesley. “She went right in and had 11 points for us in a matter of two minutes. I’m really proud of her.”
In the third quarter, Gray and Poulin went to work. Behind eight points in the period from Gray and four from Poulin, the Bulldogs stretched their lead to 38-20 entering the final period. Poulin then added eight more points in the fourth as Lawrence weathered a flurry of late baskets from Townsend.
Ali Higgins added eight points for Lawrence, which also got six rebounds from Hope Bouchard. Nokomis got 12 points and five rebounds from Townsend, nine points and seven rebounds from Cam King, eight points and four rebounds from Danica Migliore and six points and seven boards from Raegan King.
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