Patriots open with win over Greenville

MILO — The Penquis Valley High School girls jumped out to an early lead, being ahead 12-6 after a quarter of play, and never looked back to defeat Greenville High School, 42-19, in a mutual 2016-17 opener on Dec. 9 between the respective Class C North and Class D South squads. The Patriots held the visitors to just five shots from the floor, including only one 3-pointer, across the 32 minutes of game time.
Penquis sophomore Megan Valvo had the first six points of the season as she connected from the right corner and then the left corner of the court during the opening minutes. Valvo finished with a game-high 13 points.
Greenville then tied the game at six behind four free throws and two on an offensive rebound putback by freshman Tiegan Murray.
At the other end of the court freshman Sydney Fowles received a pass in the post and she turned and bounced the ball off the glass to put Penquis ahead again at 8-6. Sophomore Lexi Goddard would take a steal the other way for a layup and a field goal off of an offensive rebound by Fowles increased the Patriots’ lead to 12-6 after the first quarter.
A shot from the foul line by Greenville freshman Halle Pelletier — she picked up a team-best eight points for the Lakers — kept the team’s deficit at two possessions for the time being.
Penquis senior Jordan Durant would then grab a rebound under her team’s basket and put the ball back up for two to make the score 15-7. The Patriots would pick up eight points on offensive boards during the contest, and the play gave Durant two of her 11 points to join Valvo with double figures.
Soon after Valvo’s third 3-pointer upped the advantage to 18-7 to give her team plenty of room to work with for the rest of the evening.
Greenville is scheduled to host Penquis on Thursday, Jan. 12. The Lakers do not have a junior varsity team this year and, as for the game in Milo, tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
IS IT IN OR OUT? — Freshman Halle Pelletier of Greenville tries to grab a loose ball during the Laker basket during the fourth quarter of Friday’s game at Penquis. To the right of Pelletier is Patriot freshman Sydney Fowles and behind them is Penquis senior Jordan Durant, left, and sophomore Camryn Rolfe with Laker sophomore Emma Bilodeau behind the other four players.