Milosevic owns paint vs Knights

By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer

FRYEBURG — Mina Milosevic owned the paint Saturday.

Fryeburg Academy’s junior center dominated the lane, hauling down 23 rebounds and scoring 18 points to lead the Raiders to a 64-33 victory over Poland at Wadsworth Arena.

Coach Kristen Stacy employed full-court pressure most of the game, and it paid off big time. FA forced 12 Poland turnovers in the second quarter as they took control of the game with a 19-8 run.

Junior guard Sydney Shaw caused havoc at both ends of the court, forcing turnovers that led to several easy buckets while also showing off her soft shooting touch, knocking down pull-up jumpers to the tune of a team-high 22 points.

“Our focus has been our defense. We try to put in offensive plays, but it seems forced. If we focus on our defensive game, the offense will come. I really wanted a strong zone, and a strong man (defense) so we could switch throughout the game and keep them off-balanced,” FA Coach Kristen Stacy said. “We spent a lot of time at practice during live play switching defenses on the fly. They love it. They love the 1-2-2. We like to trap because we have great anticipation, and we make people panic and make bad passes.”

Poland stayed close early behind the sharp-shooting of junior Althea Thornton, who knocked down three 3-pointers, scoring 9 of her team’s 11 points.

After Carla Pintor Gali (10 points) hustled for an offensive rebound and scored on the put-back, Shaw netted 6 straight points — a fast-break score, a driving shot and a pair of foul shots, showing her full repertoire of offensive skills.

Up 14-11, FA guards sought out Milosevic in the lane. She responded with a bucket-and-one, a pair of foul shots, and a onehand floater as the Raiders opened up a 9-point lead. Fryeburg controlled the boards, 40-23.

“We played them on Tuesday, and we realized that as soon as we got into the middle, they were col-