Patriots’ Russell rallies team to win Penquis holds off Knights’ charges

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Although only 5 feet, 7 inches tall, Penquis Valley’s Megan Russell has shown the versatility to play an inside or outside game with equal results.

Tuesday night, it was the inside Russell that came through when the Patriots of Milo needed it most in their 47-33 Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal win over Narraguagus at the Bangor Auditorium.

Twice during the game, top-seeded Penquis build double-digit leads, only to have Narraguagus of Harrington charge back. On each occasion, it was Russell who stopped the bleeding.

“Sometimes when things aren’t going good, coach will send me inside. It worked out pretty good tonight,” Russell said.

Russell finished the game with 19 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. April Allen had 11 points for the Patriots.

After building a 20-9 first-half lead, Russell was forced to go inside to score two post-up baskets with just over one minute left in the first half to end a 7-0 Narraguagus run.

Again in the third quarter with the Patriots up 30-18, the Knights made a run to cut into the lead, and with 6:30 remaining, the Penquis lead was down to four at 32-28.

Once again Russell answered the bell, making a crucial basket in the lane, and Jean Hamlin scored two baskets as Penquis again took control, this time for good.

Much of the Knights’ success came through the inside play of 5-11 senior Anne Woodsum, who finished the game with 11 points when the Patriots changed defenses from man-to-man to a 2-3 zone.

“I don’t think we did much when we were in that zone, but when Megan picked up her third foul we had to go to it,” coach Wally Russell said.

Penquis Valley, now 18-2, will play the winner of today’s Stearns-Dexter game Friday night at 7:05 p.m.

Sarah Snider had eight points and seven rebounds for the fourth-seeded Knights, who closed out the season at 15-5.

“I thought we played pretty timid early on. We missed a lot of shots we normally make. We played well at times and had some chances,” Narraguagus coach Steven Noyes said.

PATRIOTS 47, KNIGHTS 33

Narraguagus (15-5) 33 Penquis Valley (18-2) 47

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Strout 0 1 0 0 0 Russell 7 14 19

M.Barbee 2 6 0 0 4 L.Hamlin 3 11 1 2 7

Tenney 0 0 0 0 0 Dolley 0 0 0

Sawyer 1 1 0 0 2 Allen 3 5 11

Woodsum 5 7 1 1 11 B.Hamlin 0 0

L.Barbee 2 6 0 4 4 E.Morrill 1 2

Snider 3 8 2 4 8 Gerrish 0 1 0

Howell 1 4 1 2 3 Madden 0 0 0

Pounder 0 2 1 1 1 K.Hamlin 0 0

Tenan 0 1 0 0 0 Comeau 0 0 0

Grant 0 0 0 0 0 Cobb 0 0 0

Torrey 0 0 0 0 0 J.Hamlin 3 8

Hussey 0 0 0 0

K.Morrill 0 0 0

Totals 14 36 5 12 33 17 38 11 14 47

Narraguagus 7 16 26 33

Penquis 12 24 30 47

3-pt. goals: Narraguagus (0-4): L. Barbee 0-1, M. Barbee 0-1, Howell 0-1, Strout 0-1; Penquis (2-8): Allen 1-2, Russell 1-4, Hamlin 0-1, Gerrish 0-1