SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP —
The majority of the Madison girls basketball team were a little late to the party with Lakeside on Saturday afternoon. Abbie Trivisonno, however, was rockin’ and rollin’ right from the start as she outscored the Dragons long enough for the rest of the Blue Streaks to join in on the 62-27 victory.
Trivisonno scored 15 of the Blue Streaks’ first 19 points in the first 10 minutes of play. She tallied seven of the nine points Madison (13-06, 8-3 in Premier Athletic Conference) scored in the first period and eight of the team’s 10 in the first two minutes of the second as the Blue Streaks took a 23-4 advantage with 5:13 remaining in the half.
“She has such an ability to be a scorer,” Smith said. “I’m glad (she was scoring) because we were missing a lot of shots. She’s such a good little player. She’s unselfish, too. Knowing Abbie, she could have made a couple more, but she thought she better pass the ball and get her teammates involved.
“She carried us early.”
The Blue Streaks led by just five, 9-4, through eight minutes and were just 4-22 (18.2 percent) from the field in the first quarter.
The Dragons (1-19, 0-11) trailed 26-10 at the break, but it was a vast improvement over the first time the teams battled when they were down, 53-17, at halftime.
“We had a week of conditioning,” Lakeside coach Dave Malone said. “They didn’t like it, but we ran a lot. We don’t have a deep bench, so the girls who do play have to be in good shape. Holding a team like that to 26 points in the first half is a great accomplishment.
“That said, we need to score more points. We need to execute better in the half-court set.”
“They played us much tougher this time,” Smith said. “They showed a lot of improvement.”
Trivisonno went on to tally 17 points in the half and 22 in the game. She added four rebounds, two assists, and a block.
“She penetrates well and finds openings,” Malone said. “She’s a heady player. She sees seams and openings.”
Madison, still without injured starter Taylor Bland (ankle) turned the ball over just eight times in the contest and picked the Dragons’ pockets for 24 steals on its way to forcing 35 turnovers.
“That’s taking care of the basketball,” Smith said. “It was nice. We also had some of our younger guards go in and they handled the ball well, too.
“It’s always a coach’s goal to cause more turnovers than you give. Eight to 10 is a good number.”
Shelby Smith netted 14 points and 14 boards as no other Dragon scored as many as Kristin Keasling’s four points. Sarah Morehouse had seven blocks and Smith added five.
