Staff reports

PORTLAND — Bryant Whitley scored the game-winning goal with in the third period as the Gardiner Area High School hockey team beat short-handed Cape Elizabeth 2-1 at the Portland Ice Arena on Saturday.

Cape Elizabeth (4-3-2) skated without five players, who broke team rules and skated just 11 players.

They lost a sixth during the game due to injury.“They rolled two lines and we play mostly two lines and I think that evened us out,” Gardiner coach Jeff Ross said. “We tried to play physical from the beginning of the game because we figured it would pay off by the end, because they weren’t used to rolling two lines.”

Gardiner (6-5-0) took a 1-0 lead when Josh Moore scored on the power play with an assist from Cam Sullivan at 7:55 of the second period.

Cape Elizabeth tied it on a goal by Mackie Sweeney at 1:08 of the third period. Sweeney wrestled his way across the slot from left to right and sent a backhander over the right shoulder of goalie Brad Moore (18 saves). It was Sweeney’s first goal of the season.

Messalonskee 7, Lawrence 1: Messalonskee’s top line of Sam Dexter, Chase Cunningham and James Varney followed up an impressive performance against Orono with another against Lawrence at Sukee Arena.

The trio combined for five goals and six assists as the Eagles (8-1-0) won their sixth straight. Cunningham had a hat trick while Dexter had a pair of goals.

Nate DelGiudice stopped 12 shots to earn the victory. Josh Doolan scored and Kyle McLain had 43 saves for Lawrence (2-7-1).

Messalonskee led just 2-0 after the first period before it erupted for three goals in the second.

Dexter scored 27 seconds into the second and Messalonskee was off and running.

Girls basketball

Messalonskee 46, Oxford Hills 44: Mary Badeen scored 17 points and recorded a key steal to lead the Eagles to the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A win in South Paris.

Messalonskee (8-4) trailed by six poitns with about five minutes left to play but took the lead and held it following Badeen’s steal and layup. Megan Pelletier scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the winners while teammate Michaela Turner had nine points and eight rebounds. Abby Eastman led Oxford Hills (6-6) with 15 points.

Cony 56, Brunswick 38: Mia Diplock had 14 points, six assists and six steals to lead the Rams to the KVAC Class A win in Brunswick on Friday night. Josie Lee added 13 poitns and 10 rebounds while Melanie Guzman scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Lyse Crenshaw led Brunswick (4-8) with 16 points. Cony is 12-0.

Boys basketball

Oxford Hills 52, Messalonskee 48: Deric Hanscom scored 13 points to lead the Vikings to the KVAC Class A win in South Paris. Alex Ferguson added eight points for Oxford Hills (4-8) while Riley Wentworth led Messaonskee (1-11) with nine points.

Boothbay 62, Winthrop 35: Ben Dickinson scored 26 points and hauled down 10 rebounds to lead the host Seahawks to the Mountain Valley Conference win. Ben Wooden added 13 points for Boothbay (10-2) while Hunter Kilgore led Winthrop (2-10) with 10 points.