Ham’s last-second basket gives Lee win Pandas rally past Penobscot Valley 51-49

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HOWLAND – As she outlined the potential game-winning play against Penobscot Valley on Tuesday night, Lee Academy coach Carrie Goodhue ran through all kinds of options.

There would be targets down low. There would be snipers on the perimeter. And there would be one girl – senior Deidra Ham – who would decide exactly who got the ball.

There was just one problem: With only 4.5 seconds remaining, by the time Ham gathered in the inbounds pass 50 feet from the hoop and dribbled within shooting range, she’d kind of exhausted many of the options.

“I knew that from Point A to Point B, I didn’t have much time,” Ham said.

“So I thought, ‘What the hey? I’m that close, I might as well give it a chance.'”

Ham’s chance – a pull-up eight-footer she launched in heavy traffic in the lane – swished softly through the net as the buzzer sounded, and her Pandas had escaped with a 51-49 win over the upset-minded Howlers, whom they’d defeated by 31 points on the season’s opening night.

Ham finished with 18 points, including 10 in the final quarter, to help Lee Academy improve to 7-1. Its only loss came in overtime to defending Class C champ Calais.

PVHS dropped to 3-6. But they didn’t do so before giving the Pandas all they could handle.

After the two teams were deadlocked at 5-5 in the early going, PVHS took control of the game and led for the next 26 minutes. That lead peaked at 34-23 midway through the third period when star Meagan Cyr (23 points, including 18 in the first half) nailed her fifth and final 3-pointer of the game.

But Lee wasn’t finished.

The Pandas scored the game’s next eight points to narrow the lead to 34-31 with 52 seconds left in the third, then traded short runs with the Howlers for most of the fourth.

Lee pulled within one early in the fourth quarter, but PVHS freshman substitute Liz Snape scored her only four points of the game to help push that advantage back to six at 43-37 with 4:47 to play.

Lee fought back behind hoops from Sam Cole, Ham, and Katie Harris.

Harris may have hit the biggest shot – a 3-pointer from the right corner that both evened the score at 46-46 with 1:38 to go and ended what had been a frustrating shooting skein for her.

“I haven’t been making any for the past six games,” Harris said. “I guess I’m in a shooting slump. And finally I said, ‘I’m gonna make this one. I have confidence.’ I shot and it went in.”

Harris gave the Pandas a brief lead with a free throw at the 1:16 mark before three free throws from Cyr and Nancy Hallett put the Howlers on top 49-47 with 31 seconds to go.

Then Ham drove, missed a shot and freshman forward Shelby Pickering gobbled up the rebound and made it 49-49 with 12 ticks left. Pickering battled foul trouble but scored 12 and grabbed seven rebounds.

After a timeout with eight seconds to go, PVHS turned the ball over near midcourt to set up Ham’s final chance.

“I’ve got to be happy with this game, even though it was a loss,” PVHS coach Hank Doyon said. “After getting blown out by 31 points the first game with them, this was a complete turnaround for us.”

PANDAS 51, HOWLERS 49

Lee Academy (7-1) Penobscot Valley (3-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Bird 1 3 0 0 3 Colbath 0 5 0 0

Harris 1 8 1 2 4 Young 3 6 8

Linscott 1 11 1 2 3 Cyr 7 15 23

D. Ham 8 17 2 4 18 Garland 1 2 2

Hersom 1 3 1 4 3 Hallett 1 4 3

Cole 2 5 1 3 5 S. Drost 0 3 0

Gifford 1 2 0 0 3 A. Drost 2 6

Pickering 6 13 0 2 12 McGinn 1 10 3

Snape 2 4 0 4

Totals 21 62 6 17 51 Totals 17 56 10 15 49

Lee Academy 11 21 33 51

Penobscot Valley 17 29 36 49

3-pt. goals: Lee (3-17): Bird 1-1, Harris 1-7, Linscott 0-5, D. Ham 0-2, Gifford 1-2; Penobscot Valley (5-12): Colbath 0-2, Cyr 5-9, A. Drost 0-1

Attendance: 90 (est.)

Preliminary: Penobscot Valley JV 59-46