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Southern Aroostook senior Holly McGraw nailed five of six free throws in the final 49 seconds to help give the No. 5 Warriors a 55-52 upset victory over No. 1 Katahdin in Class D girls semifinal basketball action Friday at the Bangor Auditorium.
It was the Warriors first win over the Cougars in three games this season and they advanced to Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. championship against No. 2 Jonesport-Beals, a 66-55 winner over Central Aroostook in the morning semifinal.
The J-B Royals are now 17-3 and SAHS of Dyer Brook is 13-7. Katahdin of Sherman Station finished with a 16-2 mark and CAHS of Mars Hill at 14-6.
As hoped, the third time was a charm for Coach Tom Berry’s Warriors, who lost twice to Katahdin during the season, by four and by nine.
“In the last two weeks, we’ve played our best ball in six years,” he said. “We wanted to get past this one.”
Southern Aroostook accomplished that through McGraw’s outward nerves of steel. Her five foul shots helped the Warriors break a 50-50 tie and take the victory as she finished with 16 points.
Sophomore floor general Jill Mathers had a game-high 18 points for SAHS to go with seven rebounds, five steals, and three assists. Sophomore center Jessica Walker had seven rebounds to go with her six points.
Senior Shannon Craig had 17 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists for Katahdin, followed by Kelly Stubbs’ 16 points and 10 rebounds, and 10 rebounds and eight points from Lea Craig.
The Panthers controlled the boards, 47-33, but costly turnovers and missed scoring opportunities proved fatal.
McGraw, shaking inside, was cool on the outside.
“I changed my foul shot recently,” she said, “so it has less movement. It worked. I just had to try to be calm, because I knew we could lose or win on the line.”
Mathers thinks the Warriors have a real shot at the title.
“We’ve been playing a lot better lately. We can do it,” she said.
Katahdin’s problem seemed to be shot selection (23 for 55) and keeping up with the ever-changing Southern Aroostook defense which went from man-to-man to a troublesome 1-3-1 or a 2-3 zone.
“We’re basically a man-to-man team,” Berry said, “but we put less pressure on them and they seemed to slack off. They’re a super club, but I guess it was our turn today.”
Tied at 14 after one, Southern Aroostook jumped out to a 24-16 lead after Mathers stole the ball and drove the length of the court for a basket. But Shannon Craig, driving left, shooting from the corners, and taking the ball all the way in for two, kept her team in the game and it was 27-26 lead for Southern Aroostook at the half.
The Warriors, who maintained a 41-37 lead at the end of the third, were up seven, 46-39, with 3:57 remaining.
Katahdin’s Kelly Stubbs, with three fouls, had been careful in the third, but picked up both parts of her game in the fourth as she scored two baskets off offensive rebounds and added a foul shot. Shannon Craig, Lea Craig, and Tammy Greenlaw each added a basket to tie it at 50-all with 1:10 remaining.
And then came McGraw. Five unanswered points were more than Katahdin could overcome as Lea Craig sank the Cougars last basket with a second left.
In the morning game, Jonesport-Beals got outstanding efforts from sophomore center Sandi Carver with a game-high 25 points, senior forward Julia Alley with 17, and senior guard Lynnette Beal with 16.
Central Aroostook countered with equally fine offensive efforts from its reliable trio of Stori Shaw 20 points, Erica Shaw 17, and Melanie Clark 16.
But offense wasn’t the only name of the game Friday morning: defense was critical, especially the defensive effort of the 5-foot-9 Alley, whose assignment was to control the boards and contain Clark. She did her job well but, with four fouls, she had to leave the game with with 55 seconds left in the third and wasn’t able to return until 2:48 remained to be played.
What happened while she sat totally frustrated her. Jonesport-Beals had a slim 15-14 lead at the end of one and was up 35-29 at the half. When Alley went out, Jonesport-Beals had outscored Central Aroostook 11-1 (she had six of them) and her team led 46-31.
With Alley on the bench, Central Aroostook regained control of the boards, scored nine unanswered points, and closed the gap to 46-40 at the third with a halfcourt, 3-pointer from Stori Shaw at the buzzer.
Behind the excellent offensive rebounding of Clark and the scoring and assists of Stori Shaw and Erica Shaw, the Panthers outscored Jonesport-Beals 18-8 while Alley watched.
Clark and Beal kept the Royals in the game, however, with some confident jump shots and 3-pointers from Clark, and on Beal’s special reverse hook.
The Panthers had pulled within five, 54-49, when Alley returned. From there, Carver and Alley combined for 11 points, sandwiched by a Beal 3-pointer off a steal, while Central Aroostook scored only four points from Erica Shaw and a 3-pointer from Stori Shaw.
Royalettes 66, Panthers 56
Jonesport-Beals Cent. Aroostook girls
Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP
Carver 21 10 4 4 25 Boyce 5 0 0 0 0
Beal 14 6 2 2 16 S. Shaw 14 7 4 3 20
Faulk’gham 1 0 0 0 0 Allen 8 1 0 0 3 Faulk’gham 1 0 0 0 0 Allen 8 1 0 0 3
Alley 18 7 5 3 17 E. Shaw 15 8 2 1 17
Stevens 11 1 4 2 4 Clark 19 8 2 0 16
Smith 4 2 0 0 4 Kinney 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 69 26 15 11 66 Totals 61 24 8 4 56
Jonesport-Beals 15 35 46 66
Central Aroostook 14 29 40 56
3-pt. goals: Jonesport-Beals (3-7): Carver 1-3, Beal 2-3, Smith 0-1; Central Aroostook (4-10): Boyce 0-1, S. Shaw 3-5, Allen 1-4
Warriors 55, Cougars 52
So. Aroostook girls Katahdin
Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP
Mathers 17 7 7 4 18 S. Craig 17 7 2 2 17
McGraw 11 5 6 5 16 Richardson 8 2 0 0 4
Walker 10 3 0 0 6 L. Craig 8 4 0 0 8
Jo. Corneil 6 0 2 1 1 Greenlaw 2 1 3 0 2
Grass 11 3 0 0 8 Stubbs 16 7 4 2 16
Ja. Corneil 1 1 0 0 2 Dyer 2 0 0 0 0
Brown 3 2 0 0 4 Smith 2 2 2 1 5
Grant 0 0 0 0 0 Marr 0 0 0 0 0
Collier 0 0 0 0 0 T. Craig 0 0 0 0 0
Cullins 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 59 21 15 10 59 Totals 55 23 11 5 52
Katahdin 14 26 37 52
Southern Aroostook 14 27 41 55
3-pt. goals: Katahdin (1-7): S. Craig 1-5, Richardson 0-1, L. Craig 0-1; SAHS (1-4): McGraw 1-1, Grass 2-3
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