Tournament-wise Amy Murphy, who has already experienced the agony of defeat at the Bangor Auditorium, celebrated the thrill of victory on Friday.

The 5-foot-10 senior center for the top-seeded Ashland Hornets led her team to a big first half lead in an afternoon semifinal game of the Eastern Maine Class D tournament before the Hornets held on for a 44-41 victory over Central Aroostook High School of Mars Hill.

Ashland, now 18-2, will play sixth-seeded Shead High School of Eastport, on Saturday at 1:35 p.m., for the Class D regional title. Shead upset No. 2 Southern Aroostook 58-37 earlier Friday.

“I’m so happy,” Murphy said bouncing up and down excitedly with an ear-to-ear grin. “There is a lot of pressure with us being first and all. But, we were really pumped up to play. We just did what we had to do to win.”

Murphy, who two years ago as a sophomore felt the agony of defeat when she missed a 1-and-1 late in a two-point EM “D” final loss, is looking to make up for that game this season.

On Friday, 11 first-quarter points (on 5-for-5 shooting) by Murphy helped the Hornets jump out to a 24-6 lead over the Panthers, who could never recover.

While the Panthers’ gritty and determined youngsters – led by sophomores Stori Shaw and Melanie Clark – kept chipping away at the Ashland lead until they trailed just 42-41 with 55 seconds left, it was the overall Hornet team defense which tightened when it had to.

After Hope Carney converted a fastbreak layup (with a nice assist going to twin sister Holly) with 36 seconds left, the Hornets did not allow the Panthers to get a shot off in the next 23 seconds.

Even after CAHS guard Paula Boyce was called for traveling with 13 seconds left and Ashland’s Holly Carney missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Ashland’s defense did not allow the Panthers to get out of the backcourt 3-point circle to attempt a desperation game-winning shot.

“We start two seniors, the rest are underclassman,” said Ashland Coach Bill Nemer. “I was really proud of my subs, my sixth, seventh, and eighth men. They did a good job in that last minute. Who could ask for more?”

The subs – Hope Carney, Nancy Theriault, and Shelley Belanger – did a nice job defensively filling in for foul-plagued starters Murphy, Missy Chasse, and Jennifer Clark.

Credit should also be given to the Panthers, who despite falling behind 24-6 with 4:29 left in the first half, bounced back.

After cutting the defecit to 29-17 at halftime, CAHS went on a 9-3 run at the start of the second half to get back into it.

Clark, despite not scoring any third-quarter points, led the charge by grabbing eight rebounds – seven off the defensive glass. Clark’s classmate Stori Shaw, meanwhile, scored six of her eight points during that stretch to lead the offense.

Central Aroostook kept closing that gap until Angela Allen and Boyce made single free throws to cut the lead to 42-41.

Hope Carney’s layup came 19 seconds later and the Ashland “D” tightened to ice the win.

“We worked on that backcourt pressure all year during practice,” said Diana Belskis, who recorded six steals. “It’s something we seem to do well.”

Central Aroostook, the defending EM “D” champ, ended its season at 11-9.

In the morning game, Shead’s Ivy Newcomb scored 10 of game-high 28 points in the final quarter as the sixth-seeded Tigers of Coach Bob Davis pulled away to the victory.

Newcomb, a 5-11 sophomore center, controlled the game in the paint against the shorter Warriors carrying the Tigers into Saturday’s final.

“We just started getting it in to Ivy,” said Davis. “If it wasn’t Ivy inside, then Heather Reynolds or Opal Johnson would hit the jump shot.”

Reynolds, a 5-7 junior swingman, finished with 12 points while Johnson, a 5-8 forward, posted 8 points.

Shead moved to 12-8 with the win. Southern Aroostook ended up 11-9.

The Tigers jumped out to a 17-10 lead after one period, but the Warriors, cut that gap to 25-22 at the half. The Warriors stayed close through the third quarter, trailing 36-30 at the buzzer.

Then, Newcomb took over.

“I think we were nervous at first,” said Newcomb. “When we went into the third period we kind of picked it up.”

“Mainly we just had to get the team up,” said Johnson. “We’re weren’t as awake as we would have liked to been. We’re used to playing at 6 or 7 (at night) not at 9:30 (in the morning).”

For Tom Berry’s Warriors, Jill Mathers scored 15 points and Holly McGraw netted 12.

Hornets 44, Panthers 41

Ashland girls Central Aroostook

Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP

J.Clark 17 2 3 1 5 Boyce 1 0 2 1 1

Murphy 10 6 5 2 14 S.Shaw 11 3 2 2 8

Hol.Carney 7 1 4 2 4 Folsom 3 2 7 5 9

Belskis 11 4 5 3 12 Allen 7 2 6 4 9

Baker 6 1 3 2 4 Clark 8 3 2 0 6

Hop.Carney 3 1 3 1 3 E.Shaw 3 1 2 2 4

Theriault 0 0 0 0 0 Je.Kinney 4 2 1 0 4

Belanger 1 1 0 0 2

Totals 55 16 23 11 44 Totals 37 13 22 14 41

Ashland 15 29 37 44

Central Aroostook 6 17 31 44

3-pt. goals: Ashland (1-3): Belskis 1-2, Holly Carney 0-1; CAHS (1-4): Allen 1-1, S. Shaw 0-3.

Tigers 58, Warriors 37

Shead girls (58)

Reynolds 6, Johnson 4, Wentworth (4), Lincoln 2, New comb 12(4), Preston, Raye, Ritchie, Lingley Southern Aroostook (37)

McGraw 5, Mathers 6(3), Grass 1, Russell 2, Walker, Locke, Corneil 1, Collier 1, Fowler, Grant.

3-pt. goals: McGraw 2 Shead 17 25 36 58 So. Aroostook 10 22 30 37