Nokomis holds off Eagles Warriors to play Cony Saturday

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BANGOR – No one involved with Thursday night’s late Eastern Class A girls semifinal game called it pretty, but as Nokomis coach Earl Anderson says, this time of year, all that matters is whether you’re the winner.

Anderson’s unbeaten Warriors of Newport were Thursday night, with a 38-29 verdict over No. 6 Messalonskee of Oakland at the Bangor Auditorium.

“Like I told the kids, it wasn’t the prettiest game, but who cares? We’re in the Eastern Maine final,” said Anderson, whose Warriors improve to 20-0.

The No. 2 Warriors advanced to take on top seed Cony of Augusta in Saturday’s 7:10 p.m. regional championship game despite Messalonskee’s stubborn defensive effort against star forward Danielle Clark, who was limited to eight points after a 31-point outburst in the quarterfinals.

“After a 31-point game, I expected them to play me hard, but with so many good shooters on the team, they have to pick their poison with us … And we’re good foul shooters,” said Nokomis’ 6-foot sophomore.

That was never so evident than this game, especially in the fourth quarter when the Warriors shot 9-for-10 from the foul line to hold the Eagles off.

After opening the game with a 7-2 lead, the Warriors never led by more than six points until the final 30 seconds. Nokomis hit seven of eight free throws in the last 107 seconds to pull away and finish 11-for- 12 in the game.

But it was Nokomis’ tenacious man-to-man defense which won the most praise from the Eagles.

“Their defense won the game,” said coach John Donato, whose Eagles wind up 12-9. “They were in our face and they were pushing us away from the basket. We liked the pace, but we didn’t get enough good looks at the basket.”

Senior captain and 5-10 forward Laura Pelkey led the Warriors’ offensive attack with 11 points. She also grabbed five boards.

“We had confidence because we’ve won games like this before,” Pelkey said. “If they key on the inside, we know we have outside shooters and if they stretch their defense, we can get it inside.”

Clark led Nokomis’ effort inside with seven rebounds as the Warriors held a 28-22 advantage on the boards overall and 12-5 offensively. More importantly, Nokomis outrebounded Messalonskee 8-1 in the fourth.

Messalonskee employed a triangle-and-two defensive scheme against Nokomis in which the Warriors’ guards were guarded man-to-man while the Eagles went zone around the paint, triple-teaming Clark whenever she touched the ball.

After Messalonskee scored the first basket of the game 26 seconds after the opening tip, Nokomis never trailed again, although the Eagles tied it up at 22-all early in the third quarter. Sophomore guard Lindsey Welch responded by stealing a pass and scoring back-to-back baskets to put the Warriors back up for good.

Sophomore guard Hana Pelletier came off the bench to lead the Eagles as their only double-digit scorer with 10 points.

Clark did a solid job on Eagles’ star senior swingman Izzy Smith, who finished with eight points. Smith still managed a good all-around effort with eight boards, four assists, two steals and a block.

With six minutes left and Nokomis holding a 31-25 lead, the Warriors went into a spread offense to wind down the clock and force the Eagles to foul. The Eagles had to junk their triangle-and-two and come after Nokomis.

“We can’t match up with them one-on-one so we used the triangle-and-two, but when they got the lead and spread the floor, it was all over,” Donato said.

Warriors 38, Eagles 29

Messalonskee (12-9) Nokomis girls (20-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

LaBelle 1 6 0 0 2 Welch 2 8 4 8

Colby 2 6 0 0 4 Pelkey 3 10 2 11

I. Smith 4 8 0 2 8 Murray 3 8 9

McCarthy 0 0 0 0 0 Palmer 0 3 0

Pelletier 5 8 0 0 10 Snow 0 1 0

L. Smith 1 1 0 0 2 Burnett 0 2 0

Pullen 0 0 0 0 0 Lowe 1 3 0 2

McMullin 1 5 1 2 3 Clark 2 6 8

Totals 14 34 1 4 29 11 41 11 12 38

Messalonskee 8 18 25 29

Nokomis 12 22 29 38

3-pt. goals: Messalonskee (0-5): Colby 0-1, LaBelle 0-2, McMullin 0-2; Nokomis (5-19): Pelkey 3-9, Murray 2-4, Welch 0-5, Burnett 0-1