Lord puts Blazes out in OT

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PORTLAND – For four years, the Cony of Augusta girls basketball team has been about almost everyone except Laura Lord.

Two years ago it was all about Amy Vachon, the standout guard who now helps run the show at the University of Maine.

Then it was all about Janet Riese and Tracey Frye, the tenacious defenders and primary scorers.

Last year it was about Julie Veilleux, an All-Eastern Maine Tourney center as a freshman.

But during overtime of Cony’s 52-46 Class A state championship victory at Portland’s Cumberland County Civic Center on Saturday, it was all about Lord, a 5-foot-10 senior forward who starts along with Riese, Frye and Veilleux but has never gotten the same amount of attention.

She went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line and added a field goal in overtime to help seal the win.

With less then a minute left in the game and the Rams clinging to a 46-44 lead, Lord scored off a layup, had a key block and rebound and made two free throws for the 48-44 lead. She was quiet for the rest of the game but the damage was done, and Cony went on to win its third state championship in four years.

“It feels so good,” Lord said. “All my four years it’s been someone else and since I’m a senior I’m happy that it’s my turn now. I’m really happy. I’m really proud.”

All three of 22-0 Cony’s titles have come against Westbrook, which finishes this season 21-1. The victory gives Eastern Maine a 10-year Class A title run.

Lord scored seven of her 13 points in the four-minute overtime period as Cony came back from a 40-36 Westbrook lead with less than two minutes in the fourth quarter. Kelsie Bryer hit a 3-pointer at the 1:41 mark to make it 40-39 and Frye scored on a layup for the lead. Westbrook’s Jessica Mayol made the first shot of a 1-and-1 to tie the game with 1:05 left.

The Blue Blazes went to the line again with 53 seconds left but Morgan McEwen missed the first shot of a 1-and-1. The tie stood through a harried 30 seconds of turnovers and backcourt violations for both teams.

The turnovers continued at the start of overtime but McEwen got to the line and gave Westbrook a one-point lead. Lord answered back with both ends of a 1-and-1 and hit another free throw at the 2:09 mark.

McEwen tied it up again with a jump shot but Lord scored and tossed in two free throws for a 48-44 lead. Mayol connected with 33 seconds left but the basket was Westbrook’s final score. Veilleux wrapped up the win with a layup from Frye with 15 seconds remaining.

Final numbers for the two squads were similar. Westbrook had 22 turnovers, Cony had 19. The Blazes had a 38-34 rebounding edge. Riese scored 12 points, Mayol had 11.

The difference was free-throw shooting – not in percentages, because neither squad was hot from the line (56 percent for Cony, 53.8 for Westbrook).

It was pure timing. Westbrook missed five of six shots in overtime. Cony was 7-for-10.

“It was just one of those situations where we had our opportunities but we just didn’t capitalize on them,” Westbrook coach Ben Palubinskas said. “That was really the difference. If you look at the last two minutes, as Cony was turning the ball over, we just weren’t making the foul shots.”

Lauren LaRochelle, Cony’s premier defender, had the toughest assignment on the evening. LaRochelle had to guard McEwen, the Western Maine tournament MVP. McEwen got her points – she led both teams with 17 – but was short of her season average (18.5).

“[McEwen is] an incredible player,” LaRochelle said. “They screen for her all the time. I was running into screens all night. She played a great game.”

Westbrook’s 6-foot junior center Kelly Grover, however, was unstoppable under the basket. She pulled down 19 rebounds (eight offensive, 11 defensive) to go along with five blocks and 10 points.

Cony’s troubles in the second half may have been due to Westbrook’s 2-1-2 zone defense that made both inside and outside shots hard to come by for the Rams.

“Anytime someone plays zone against us we just feel like they don’t want to come at us and play with us,” Cony coach Paul Vachon said. “We’ve got to hit our outside shots. They played a good zone because we didn’t hit our outside shots and couldn’t get the ball inside.”

Rams 52, Blue Blazes 46 (OT)

Cony girls (22-0) Westbrook (21-1)

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

Frye 3 12 1 4 8 Harmon 0 0 0 0 0

Bryer 2 5 0 0 6 Mayol 4 9 2 4 11

Riese 4 13 3 7 12 Tatarczuk 1 3 0 0 2

Nimon 1 2 0 1 2 Amico 0 0 0 0 0

LaRochelle 1 1 0 0 2 Garland 1 4 2 5 4

Veilleux 3 13 3 4 9 Fasulo 0 0 2 2 2

Lord 3 4 7 8 13 McEwen 5 16 6 9 17

Morin 0 1 0 1 0 Taliento 0 2 0 0 0

Grover 4 10 2 6 10

Totals 17 51 14 25 52 Totals 15 44 14 26 46

Cony 9 23 32 41 52

Westbrook 6 20 32 41 46

3-pt. goals: Cony (4-17): Frye 1-4, Bryer 2-4, Riese 1-9; Westbrook (2-8): Mayol 1-4, Tatarczuk 0-1, McEwen 1-2, Taliento 0-1