OAKLAND — Still reeling from the chaos, Jordan Linscott didn’t remember much about the final minutes Friday night. She didn’t have to, either, given her final stat line filled in plenty of the blanks.
The Erskine Academy senior scored 15 of her game-high 36 points in a pair of extra sessions, as the Eagles stunned Messalonskee with a 69-65 double-overtime victory in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A game to win their third straight game to open the season.
None of the victories were any sweeter than the one over Messalonskee (1-2).
“I don’t even remember what happened when or how long that gave even was,” Linscott said. “It’s an extremely important win. This just sets the bar for the rest of the year. If we can beat them, we should have a good chance against every other team.”
Linscott scored all but six of Erskine’s points after the end of the fourth quarter.
“(Linscott’s) creating her own shots, she’s driving to the basket, she’s now a force,” Erskine coach Bob Witts said. “Never been prouder of a bunch of kids. They could have given up a couple of times and they didn’t. They were all involved, and it was great.”
Erskine sophomore Sarah Praul’s layup with four seconds remaining in regulation tied the game at 48-48 to force overtime. From there, Linscott scored her team’s first 11 points in the opening overtime period. With 15.2 seconds left, Mackenzie Roderick’s free throw handed Erskine a 60-58 lead.
That lead lasted less than 11 seconds before Messalonskee’s Gabrielle Wener (13 points, 12 rebounds) finished off a baseline drive to tie things up once again and force double-overtime.
Messalonskee led 65-62 before Linscott hit a 3-pointer from the left side with 40 seconds remaining, tying things up once again. She hit another free throw with 7.5 seconds showing on the clock to extend the lead to two, and Roderick drained two more from the charity stripe with 6.6 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
“We were all over the court. We never really stopped,” Linscott said. “The energy was always high. We didn’t act tired at all.”
Messalonskee went the final 1:05 without scoring and had a costly turnover with a chance to tie the game and under seven seconds to play, with Bri Benecke’s full-court inbounds pass eluding the outstretched arms of Wener.
“It comes down to the little things. Getting key stops, making free throws, things like that,” Messalonskee coach Keith Derosby said. “It comes down to discipline in execution.”
Messalonskee shot just 8 of 14 from the free throw line following the end of regulation on a night where neither team truly capitalized on chances to put the other away.
Linscott was happy to take care of that, scoring all but four of her points after halftime.
“They’re starting to grow up,” Witts said. “They’re playing at a level they’ve never played at before. I’m a big guy for fitness, and I make them work really, really hard at practice. They’re seeing some of the rewards — 3-0 for the first time since whenever, top of the conference. Not by any means is the season over, but we can only go up from here.”
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