But you still need to activate your account.
BANGOR – Two years ago Sara Ricker and the Shead of Eastport girls basketball team snuck up on a Class D state championship, winning the title as the No. 6 seed.
Ranked sixth again this year, the Tigerettes are no surprise team. Thanks to another clutch performance from Ricker, Shead is back in the Eastern Maine championship game.
The senior guard scored the final seven points of the game for Shead as the Tigerettes held off sharp-shooting No. 7 East Grand 47-44 in an EM Class D semifinal at the Bangor Auditorium Thursday afternoon.
Shead, now 15-6, will play in the EM final at 9:05 a.m. Saturday against No. 1 Woodland, a 76-32 winner over No. 4 Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook Thursday night.
Woodland beat the Tigerettes twice in the regular season.
Ricker had eight rebounds, five assists and 19 points, including seven in the fourth quarter.
“We ran plays for Sara at the high post at the end of the game to try and create some foul opportunities for the other team and get us a better look,” Shead coach Dean Preston said. “She did a great job and the team did a great job finding her.”
The Vikings (11-10) never led in the game, but they did tie it up five times, including twice in the fourth quarter.
Lindsay Faulker’s scored for East Grand with 3:52 left made it 42-42. Ricker scored off a pass from freshman Samantha Davis to put the Tigerettes up for good. Mesha Whitney hit the first end of a 1-and-1 to cut the lead to 44-43, but Ricker made a driving basket and a free-throw with 1:51 left.
Shead’s rebounding, in addition to foul trouble for East Grand’s 5-foot-9 center Amanda Godley, helped Ricker inside.
“I had to rebound, she was going to go down the lane and I had to get her the ball if I got the rebound,” said Shead senior Jaime Green, who pulled down 15 rebounds.
East Grand took a timeout with 9.3 seconds left to get the ball to Marie Gilman, who had already hit four 3-pointers in the game. But the Vikings took the ball inside instead and time expired.
“I told them, if you’re open, shoot it. If you’re not, just throw it up,” said East Grand coach Renee Shain. “I think Marie panicked and wasn’t sure if that’s really what I wanted her to do. But I can’t be disappointed. What ever happened was going to happen.”
Shead’s triangle-and-two defense held Tara Cropley to just one free throw. Cropley scored a team-high 12 points in the Vikings’ quarterfinal game.
Godley, the other East Grand player guarded by the Tigerettes, finished with a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Tigerettes 47, Vikings 44
East Grand girls (11-10) Shead (15-6)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Gilman 4 14 0 1 12 Green 3 6 6
Faulkner 1 11 4 4 6 Smith 3 6 6
Cropley 0 3 1 2 1 Davis 5 12 14
Godley 6 10 4 6 16 Ricker 7 15 19
Whitney 3 10 1 2 9 Beaulieu 0 2
T. Osnoe 0 2 0 0 0 Lingley 0 1 0
Totals 14 50 10 15 44 18 45 15 47
East Grand 11 22 31 44
Shead 12 29 38 47
3-pt. goals: East Grand (6-14): Gilman 4-8, Whitney 2-5, Cropley 0-2; Shead (2-6): Davis 2-5, Lingley 0-1
Comments
comments for this post are closed