WATERVILLE — Losing has not sat well with Jordan Jabar and it is easy to see why.

Though just a sophomore at Waterville Senior High School, Jabar has already been on two state championship-winning teams — soccer, and outdoor track and field — in just a little over four seasons of competition.

This winter the Purple Panthers girls basketball team began their season with six straight losses but Saturday afternoon Jabar played a big part in making sure that streak did not extend to a seventh game.

Jabar finished with 21 points and 19 rebounds as Waterville (1-6) scored its first win of the season in a 53-38 decision over Mount View (1-6).

“It’s really frustrating to go into games and know that we’re better than (how) we’ve been playing,” Jabar said. “Finally we won and it was really exciting.

“Everyone was focused on the game and just ready to win, and I think we were sick of losing.”

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Of Jabar’s 19 rebounds, nine came at the offensive end of the floor and she also had four steals. Freshman Mackenzie St. Pierre chipped in with 11 points, while freshman Madison Foster and sophomore Kaylyn Tressel added eight points each. Waterville managed to get its first win Saturday without two-year starter Fotini Shanos, who sat out the game with a high ankle sprain.

“It was nice to see some other kids really step up,” Waterville coach Rob Rodrigue said. “Kaylyn Tressel did a nice job today, giving us big minutes and especially rebounding the basketball.”

Senior Brooke Tripp paced the Mustangs with 14 points, while junior Jenni Nadeau and freshman Andrea Crosby poured in six points apiece.

“We just let them in the paint too much,” Mount View coach Erica Gabbianelli said. “We didn’t get stops, that’s what it boiled down to.”

Waterville jumped all over the Mustangs in the first two minutes, as four free throws from Jabar and a 3-pointer from Gabrielle Martin allowed the Purple Panthers to race out to a 7-0 advantage.

“It was nice to see us get up 7-0,” Rodrigue said. “We do struggle a bit to put the ball in the basket but I think we got good shots. The offensive rebounding was another way that you can kind of get points on the board to give yourself extra possessions.”

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Mount View found its groove behind the play of Nadeau and Tripp, however, as the duo scored nine points as a part of 14-1 Mustang run in response to the initial Waterville spurt. The Purple Panthers ultimately trailed 14-11 after the opening quarter and still trailed by three points with 4 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the second when Jabar went to work.

The sophomore guard/forward scored eight points — most of them second chance — as a part of a 10-2 Waterville run to end the quarter and give the home team a 26-21 lead at intermission.

The break did little to cool off the Purple Panthers, as six straight points from Tressel followed by another Jabar bucket allowed Waterville to distance itself for good ahead 34-21 with 4:49 remaining in the third quarter. The Mustangs never cut the deficit below nine points for the remainder of the contest.

“In the second half we talked about coming out up by (five) and just making sure we had a good first possession on defense and working on building that lead,” Rodrigue said. “We just had consistent pressure. I felt like our kids really got after it defensively. It’s not always tips or steals, it’s more of a cumulative effect of kind of wearing them down a bit.”

Evan Crawley — 621-5640

ecrawley@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @Evan_Crawley


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