Wisdom wins first crown> Balanced scoring effort carries Pioneers past Shead

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BANGOR – The Shead girls basketball team, which finished the regular season with a 9-9 record and was issued a No. 7 seed for the tournament, had knocked off No. 2 Bangor Christian and No. 3 Fort Fairfield on the strength of a pressing defense and a balanced scoring attack.

The Tigerettes of Eastport met their match in the form of Wisdom’s Tracy Guerrette during Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class D final.

The stellar guard scored 17 points to lead Wisdom of St. Agatha to its first-ever Eastern Maine basketball championship with a 63-43 victory.

Wisdom will meet undefeated Western Maine champ Monmouth Academy for the state title at the Augusta Civic Center at 2:07 p.m. on Saturday.

Guerrette’s first basket, a 3-pointer at the 6:06 mark of the first quarter, broke the school’s all-time scoring record. After Saturday’s game, the senior has 1,519 career points.

Averaging about 22 points per game this season, Guerrette has handled almost the entire scoring load this season. Against Shead she contributed 12 rebounds, five assists and three blocks.

But the most impressive statistics from Saturday’s game may be the totals for the other Pioneers who started or saw signifigant minutes.

Starter Loni Gervais tossed in 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, 13 of which were offensive. Joy Gervais, Loni’s cousin and the first player off the Pioneers’ bench, finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, including eight in the fourth quarter. Tricia Cyr scored 15 points and Jen Derosier grabbed nine boards. Both start.

Wisdom had 31 first-half rebounds (17 offensive) compared to Shead’s 13 total rebounds in the half.

“Rebounding was a key,” Shead coach Bob Davis said. “We didn’t board with them and that was a problem.”

Guerrette’s 3-pointer came in the middle of an 11-0 Wisdom run. She capped the quarter with another 3 for a 14-1 lead. The Pioneers had as much as a 23-5 advantage midway through the second quarter until the Tigerettes’ jump started their excellent outside game.

Laura Davis, Sara Ricker and Beth Ingersoll (16 points) each connected for a 3-pointer and Ricker tallied seven in the quarter to cut Wisdom’s lead to 31-18.

“I knew they could come back like that with the 3-point shooting,” Guerrette said. “With a 20-point lead I’m still nervous. I knew we had to keep running the ball and never let our defense down.”

Shead gave the press a fair shake in the first quarter, just to see how well it might work against Wisdom’s guards. But Guerrette was in charge of bringing the ball down the court and her speed overcame the Tigerettes. Shead abandoned the press in the second half.

“We had to try it but once you get the ball in her hands you have to get back,” Davis said. “You just can’t stop her.”

In the third quarter, facing a Wisdom zone defense that left the outside open, Shead continued to bomb in the 3-pointers and jump shots. Two baskets by Ingersoll cut the Wisdom lead to eight points and a Davis 3-pointer with 2:27 left in the quarter made the score 37-33.

Wisdom coach Mim Gagnon switched the defense back to man and Wisdom was able to stave off the Shead surge. With just under two minutes left in the period, Loni Gervais and Tricia Cyr each scored for the Pioneers for the 41-33 lead.

“[The switch] made all the difference in the world,” Gagnon said. “We played the 2-3 zone so well in the past and in the first half we were successful. But then [Shead] started hitting their 3-pointers and we had to switch around.”

Ingersoll hit another 3-pointer at the 6:34 mark of the fourth quarter, but Wisdom had already bounced back to retain control of the game.

“It feels great but we have one more game left to win,” Guerrette said as she gripped the championship plaque. “I’m still gunning for that last game.”

Pioneers 63, Tigerettes 43

Shead girls (11-10) Wisdom (18-3)

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

Green 0 0 0 0 0 Paradis 0 2 0 0 0

C. Lingley 0 0 0 0 0 Lowe 0 0 0 0 0

Mills 2 7 3 6 7 K. Cyr 0 0 0 2 0

Seeley 1 2 1 2 3 L. Gervais 7 17 2 7 16

Preston 1 5 0 2 2 Guerrette 6 21 2 3 17

Davis 2 12 0 0 6 Lugdon 0 0 0 0 0

Ingersoll 6 13 0 0 16 Michaud 0 3 0 0 0

Ricker 2 6 2 2 7 Pelletier 0 1 0 0 0

Mattheson 1 5 0 1 2 T. Cyr 5 11 3 3 15

R. Lingley 0 5 0 0 0 J. Derosier 0 7 3 4 3

Lavoie 1 1 0 0 2

M. Derosier 0 0 0 0 0

J. Gervais 5 7 0 1 10

Totals 15 55 6 13 43 Totals 24 70 10 20 63

Shead 1 18 33 43

Wisdom 14 31 41 63

3-pt. goals: Shead (7-19): Davis 2-5, Ingersoll 4-7, Ricker 1-2, Mattheson 0-2, R. Lingley 0-3; Wisdom (5-9): Guerrette 3-6, T. Cyr 2-3