MONMOUTH — The best version of the Kents Hill girls basketball program was on display Wednesday night.
For one quarter, at least.
Kents Hill blew off a sluggish start with a 23-2 run in the second quarter, sending the undefeated Huskies to a 50-40 Class C South win over Monmouth that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. Senior Logan McDonald led Kents Hill (15-0) with a game-high 23 points, while classmate Rose Jenkins added 16 more.
The Huskies, currently second in the regional standings with only a handful of games left to play before the tournament begins, are off to the program’s best start as a Maine Principals Association member.
“It’s a pretty cool thing on campus,” said McDonald, who scored 17 of her 23 in the second period. “We’re in a different league than everyone else at our school. Knowing that we’re doing really well, and now people know about it and are acknowledging us, it kind of feels nice. I’m proud of our team.”
Kents Hill scored the first 15 points of the second quarter after managing a 9-4 lead through the opening eight minutes. The Huskies shot exactly 50 percent from the field (10 of 20) in the decisive period, with McDonald draining 3-pointers on consecutive trips down the floor for a 27-6 lead with 2:44 left until halftime.
Defensively, Kents Hill forced Monmouth (10-4) into four turnovers in the quarter and only a pair of field goals — the first of which was Reese Beaudoin’s jumper with more than five minutes elapsed — and held the Mustangs to six one-and-done possessions.
If there’s anything that Kents Hill has struggled with this season, it’s been getting off to quick starts on the road.
“We’re not very used to playing away from home,” McDonald said. “We have long stretches of home games, and then long stretches of away games. It’s just about getting into a rhythm with the warmups when not in your home gym. When you’re not at home, it just makes things more difficult.”
“Since in the playoffs we’re going to be at the (Augusta) Civic Center and it’s away, we’re going to have to focus on coming out strong,” said Jenkins, who made the low post her office for 10 points off offensive rebounds. “We really just dialed in (in the second quarter). We were moving the ball around and sharing the ball with each other, and I think that’s really what led to those runs. It’s just an aggressive mindset — when we do that, we get offensive boards, and if we’re in the zone and doing that, layups are going to fall.”
Monmouth’s Kaitlyn Frost scored a team-high 16 points, all in the second half. She drilled a trio of treys in the final period to cut into Kents Hill’s 42-23 lead through three quarters. The Mustangs closed the night on a 9-0 run, all but Frost’s final triple coming with the Huskies having emptied the bench in favor of their reserves.
“When we get our heads screwed on straight and play the way we’re supposed to, I think we’re usually pretty good,” said Kents Hill coach R.J. Jenkins, now in his fifth season at the helm after spending the previous 15 coaching the school’s boys team. “We didn’t play a great game tonight. It was kind of a mess, honestly. When we’re at our best, we’re using our speedy guards and our athleticism to get out and run, we’re sharing the ball and we’re attacking the paint.
“Our rebounding margins have been really good this year, offensively and defensively, and we’re holding our hat on that. Defensively, we’ve really bought in, too. We know that to get where we want to go, we have to be able to play defense. When you have nights where you can’t throw it in the ocean, if you can play defense, you’ll have a shot.”
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